604 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OflE. Doc. 



RADISHES 



It is only occasionally that radishes are forced as they are gen- 

 erally considered less profitable than lettuce. We grew radishes 

 the last two seasons and while the returns were not as good as from 

 lettuce at good prices yet they were better than from lettuce at low 

 prices. One crop gave a net return of 8^ cents per square foot 

 Avhich is about the same as 8 cents per pound for lettuce. Our 

 method of growing them was different from that usually followed. 

 Instead of thinning the plants so that each radish would have plenty 

 of room to develop we left the plant quite thick in the rows, from 

 one-half to three-fourths of an inch apart. As soon as a few of 

 the radishes were large enough for market they were pulled and 

 this answered the purpose of thinning. In a few days another pull- 

 ing was made and so on until all had developed and were pulled. 

 This gave us a much larger yield per square foot than we could 

 have secured any other way although the time required to grow the 

 crop was somewhat longer than it would have been if the plants 

 had been thinned out more at the start. The varieties used were 

 Fireball and Scarlet Globe. We also grew some Icycle but they 

 will not stand crowding as well as the button varieties. 



An oversupply of lettuce is not an uncommon thing in the early 

 fall. In order to avoid this it is well to devote some of the space 

 to other crops at that time of the year. Eadishes, string beans, 

 cauliflower and beets are all suited to this purpose. 



The writer does not know how well the markets are supplied 

 with greenhouse products in your state, but if there are any cities 

 of 10,000 or more population which are not supplied locally with 

 these crops each one is offering some one an opportunity to make 

 a good living. No one should start in the greenhouse business, how- 

 ever, on a large scale without having had some previous experience 

 along that line. Vegetable forcing under glass is most exacting 

 and requires the closest attention to details of any form of garden- 

 ing. On the other hand there are few lines of work which will show 

 the effects of a master hand more quickly and fully or give more 

 genuine satisfaction to the man who likes that kind of work than 

 vegetable forcing under glass. 



THE MUSKMELON 



By PROF. J. W. GREGG, State College, Pa. 



It affords me peculiar pleasure to be present at a meeting of this 

 Association and have the privilege of addressing you upon a sub- 

 ject dealing with a crop that to many minds is the garden's un- 

 equaled delicacy. 



Writers tells us that the muskmelon has been grown as an article 

 of food from a very early date, and that from the hotter parts of 

 the Orient it has been introduced all over the world until to-day it 



