922 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



March .;4. 1904. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



The lettuce growers north of Chicago 

 complain that this has not been their 

 most profitable season to date. Some 

 have had light crops and poor quality, 

 prices running from lo to 35 cents per 

 case of eighteen plants; the average price 

 has been about 25 cents. On this ten 

 per cent commission must be paid and 

 the case costs 4V2 cents. 



THE MARKETS. 



Chicago, March 23. — K;idishes, 25@ 

 40c doz. bunches; lettuce. $2.06@2.25 

 barrel, heads; lettuce, 40@42%c ease, 

 leaf; cucumbers, 50e@$1.65 doz. 



New York, March 22. — Cucumbers, 

 $1.00(0-1.75 doz.; lettuce, 25@75c doz.; 

 mushrooms, 25@50c lb.; radishes, $1.50 

 («3.00 100 bunches; tomatoes, 10@20c 

 lb.; asparagus, $2.00@6.00 doz. bunches; 

 rhubarb, 25@75c doz. 



GATHERING MUSHROOMS. 



In gathering mushrooms it is a mis- 

 take to cut them over at the soil and 

 leave the bottoms of the stems. All 

 the stems should be pulled out if a sec- 

 ond crop is to be looked for, but care 

 should be exercised in doing it; if pulled 

 up roughly a good deal of the soil will 

 adhere, but if twisted around gently 

 they will come out clean and without 

 injury to the mycelium, leaving only a 

 small cavity in the bed. It is a good 

 plan to go over the bed after each gath- 

 ering and fill up the cavities with fresh 

 soil, pres.<ing this down firmly and leav- 

 ing the surface of the bed smooth. 



After the first crop has been gath- 

 ered a good second crop can be had bv 

 top dressing the bed with about an inch 

 of fresh material composed of equal 

 portions of soil and well rotted cow 

 manure. This should be spread evenly 

 over the bed and beaten dovm smoothly, 

 and before again covering up, the bed 

 should have a good watering with tepid 

 water, to which may be added a little 

 sulphate of ammonia, a teaspoonful to 

 a ten-quart can of water being about 

 the quantity we use. The bed should 

 again be covered up as after the first 

 spawning and left until the pin heads 

 begin to appear. 



If the atmosphere of the house is 

 kept moderately charged with moisture 

 little evaporation will take place, but 

 as atmospheric moisture can be over- 

 done, good judgment must be exercised 

 in the matter. The covering should be 

 removed occasionally and the bed ex- 

 amined, and if dry should be again wa- 

 tered, using tepid water as before. Thus 

 treated, beds will often continue to bear 

 good mushrooms for a considerable 

 time. W. S. Croydon. 



LETTUCE. 



Will you please give me directions for 

 growing lettuce in greenhouses at this 

 season of the year? Is there any ad- 

 vantage in transplanting it twice when 

 one has plenty of space? G. J. B. 



If the house in which G. J. B. intends 

 growing lettuce is provided with solid 

 benches the growing of the crop will be 

 easy compared with handling them in 

 raised benches. In the former they have 

 the natural moisture of the soil and are 

 easier provided with an equable moisture 

 at the roots, which, if it can be given, 



is the best preventive of leaf-burn. 



The heat of the sun at this season will 

 raise the temperature of the house con- 

 siderably above that most suitable to 

 the growth of lettuce, but if the roots 

 can be kept cool they are better able to 

 withstand the higher temperature. In 

 solid benches the roots can be kept cool, 

 but in the raised benches this is impos- 

 sible, as the circulation of air under and 

 around the bench must inevitably raise 

 the temperatuie of the l:^ench "almost 

 equal to that of the house. In either 

 case slight shading will be bene- 

 ficial, but this must not be overdone or 

 the plants will become drawn, the growth 

 soft and the leaves thin in texture. 



We sow the seed rather thinly iu flats 

 in a rather light soil and when the plants 

 are large enough to handle prick over 

 into Hats again, setting them about two 

 inches apart each way. Before the plants 

 begin to crowd one another here they 

 are quite large enough to plant in the 

 bench. There is nothing gained by hav- 

 ing the plants too large when planting, 

 as the larger they are the more cheek 

 they are apt to receive. No matter how 

 carefully they are handled the roots 

 must inevitably receive some damage and 

 the plants will flag more or less as a 

 result, the roots not being able to sup- 

 ply enough moisture to support the foli- 

 age until they have taken a fresh hold. 



About eight inches apart is the right 

 distance for head lettuce in the benches. 

 The Grand Eapids variety might be set 

 a little wider. Space will not permit 

 my going into details regarding soil ; suf- 

 fice it to say that good average soil only 

 moderately enriched with well rotted 

 manure is all that is necessary. 



W. S. Crotdon. 



NEW VARIETIES. 



Nothing new of outstanding merit has 

 come under our notice in forcing vege- 

 tables during the past year. In fact, 

 there seems to be very little attempt to 

 introduce new varieties of any of the 

 subjects used for forcing, or to raise 

 such with a direct view to their improve- 

 ment as forcing subjects. Almost any of 

 the existing varieties might be improved 

 on, and it would undoubtedly be of ad- 

 vantage of vegetable forcers in general if 

 the production of suitable new varieties 

 were paid a little more attention. A great 

 deal might be accomplished by working 

 along certain lines. Take lettuce for in- 



stance, which is subject to the attacks of 

 so many fungous diseases. I think it 

 might be quita under the range of pos- 

 sibilit.v to produce a disease resisting 

 variety if worked up from that stand- 

 point. We have Grand Rapids, which 

 with us has never shown sign.-; of disease, 

 but then it is not a head lettuce, and we 

 find that nine times out of ten a head let- 

 tuce is preferred and we have not found 

 a head lettuce so far that is free from 

 the attacks of fungous diseases. 



It seems quite feasible that a cross be- 

 tween Grand Eapids and some good head 

 variety might produce a head variety that 

 would retain the disease resisting quali- 

 ties of Grand( Eapids. A good deal can 

 be done and has been done by selection. 

 Several more or less distinct varieties 

 have originated from the old Boston 

 Market variety and are considerable 

 improvements over the original. One of 

 two plants will often stand out in a bench 

 with distinct advantages over their com- 

 rades in earliness, firmness of bead, free- 

 dom from disease or other qualities, and 

 although the grower may take notice of 

 them at the time, it is too often only a 

 passing notice, and a good thing may be 

 lost through not being taken care of. 

 The producer of a disease resisting variety 

 of lettuce will be a benefactor to his 

 kindred, but although he would share in 

 the general advantage of having such a 

 variety, I don 't know that he would make 

 a fortune out of the raising of it. We 

 have had the thirty-thousand-doUar car- 

 nation, but I harclly expect to see the 

 thirty-thousand-dollar lettuce. 



For new forcing varieties of tomatoes 

 we have had to depend largely on Euro- 

 pean productions. Some of them have 

 taken kindly enough to our climatic con- 

 ditions, while others have been a disap- 

 pointment. There is no reason why good 

 forcing varieties cannot be raised here as 

 well as in Europe if growers would take 

 the trouble to do it. Freedom of setting, 

 freedom from disease, and earliness, 

 should be some of the points to try to 

 attain. 



In cauliflower we have had several so- 

 called new varieties in recent years, but 

 as far as I can see they are all selections 

 of Dwarf Erfurt and, although possess- 

 ing more or less distinctiveness when first 

 introduced, the.y all seem, in a .year or 

 two, to get more or less mixed up. If a 

 true strain of the old Dwarf Erfurt vari- 

 ety can be procured I am doubtful if any 



Lettuce House of Ludwig Mosbaek, Chicago, III. 



