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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



April 2S, 1904. 



Vegetable Forcin| 



TKE MARKETS. 



Chicago, AprU 27.— Kadishes, 25@60c 

 doz. bunches; rhubarb, 40ni box, 75c@ 

 $1.25; lettuce, heads, 50@70c bu., leat, 

 40@50c case; cucumbers, 50c@$l doz. 



Boston, April 26.— Khubarb, 7e lb.; 

 cucumbers $3@$7 bu.; lettuce, 50c@$l 

 doz. ; hothouse water cress, 7oc doz. 

 bunches; mint, 75c doz.; beets, $l..-o 

 doz. bunches; radishes, 40c doz. bunches; 

 mushrooms in shorter supply and bring 

 $4 per 4-lb. box; dandelions, $1 bu.; 

 parsley, $1.25 bu.; tomatoes in good de- 

 mand, the best bringing 40c lb. 



TOMATOES AND MELONS. 

 I have been reading W. S. Croydon's 

 articles in the Ke^ew on vegetable forc- 

 ing, with much interest. I am growing 

 tomatoes quite extensively this year, and 

 at times have ' ' windy, ' ' or hollow, fruit. 

 One variety will be practically worth- 

 less; nice, large fruit, and no good, while 

 beside them another kind will be good, 

 the conditions apparently the same. Can 

 it be that different varieties of tomatoes 

 demand such different conditions'? De- 

 cember 1 I commenced picking from a 

 fine house; for forty days 1 picked the 

 nicest and heaviest crop I ever had, 

 then all at once they got very windy, 

 almost worthless. Later on they were 

 some better, but even now some arc 

 windy. My houses are very light, hav- 

 ing iron posts and four to five feet of 

 glass on the sides; they are of the 

 Dietsch short-span pattern. It can be 

 no fault of inferior houses and poor light. 

 About February 25 I began picking from 

 a big new house. For a month all the 

 fruit was the very best in every way, 

 but ten days ago one variety got windy, 

 and now are very bad. It chances to be 

 the most prolific and best shaped va- 

 riety that goes wrong, and this section 

 was run a trifle cooler, too. What va- 

 riety do you prefer? 



Do you grow any melons? I am at 

 present experimenting with them. Have 

 had a few very fine specimens, but had 

 trouble to get good seed; it would not 

 grow. Most I have are English varieties ; 

 can't get any French seed to germinate. 

 Frogmore Scarlet is the best I have 

 found thus far. Have one on the vines 

 now that will weigh, I judge, over eig'at 

 pounds. What price should such fruit 

 bring now, and what is the best market? 



C. D. G. 



The trouble you mention with your 

 tomatoes, "windy" or hollow fruit, has 

 never come under my notice, and I am 

 unable to say what the cause may be, 

 or what preventive or cure might be 

 used. But from what you say I should 

 think that the variety has a good deal 

 to do with it. It might be a disease 

 that causes the trouble, or it might be 

 that the fruits were not sufficiently fer- 

 tilized to develop the seed cells, of which 

 the inside of the tomato is largely com- 

 posed. In this case the seed would be 

 immature, and by examining them you 

 could find out whether this is the cause 

 of the trouble or not. The fact of your 

 getting good fruit from the picking in 

 December and again in the warmer spring 

 months, seems to point to insufficient 

 fertilization, as it would appear that it 

 is the fruits set through the dull winter 

 months that are most affected by th"^* 



.rouble, m any case I -;°"l^\f f^^^^^'^ 

 the variety affected and stick to those 

 hie. vou-say do not develop the trouble 

 it seems a pity to have to discara a 

 heavT cVoppe? that produces large well- 

 Sed frui't, for such a variety is hard 

 to set. but when the fruit cannot be de- 

 penfed on, it is not worth while to keep 



"Veg'Lnuig^varieties, 1 {-ave grown the 

 old LoriUard for years, but find that a 

 good many of the fruits S°'"\'°'\^^.^Z 

 badly shaped at times. This I attribute 

 to insufficient fertilization, as during the 

 fall and spring little trouble is expe- 

 rienced from this source; it is the truis 

 set during the dull and short days o± 

 winter that are apt to come badly shaped. 

 Of late years I have depended mamly 

 on Sutton's Best of All, the fruits of 

 this being very uniform. It is also a 

 healthy grower, and a good, fair jaelder. 

 Stirling Castle is the most prohfic va- 

 riety I have tried, though the fruits are 

 smaller than either of the other two, and 

 in some cases does not take the market 

 so well. 



I find it a good plan to save my own 

 seed, selecting the best fruits from the 

 healthiest plants and saving them eitiier 

 in the fall or late in the spring, when 

 conditions are more natural than in the 

 dead of winter, and the seed more cer- 

 tain of being fully developed. If you try 

 this plan you will know just what you 

 have, and besides averting disappoint- 

 ment, you will also gradually improve 

 your strain. I do not mean to cast any 

 reflections on the seedsmen, but no mat- 

 ter how reliable they may be, and no 

 matter how careful in buying their stock, 

 it stands to reason that it would hardly 

 pay the seed grower to make the careful 

 selection one can do for himself, and 

 the seeds, though true to name, are apt 

 to be saved from all sorts and sizes of 

 fruit. I am satisfied that there is a 

 good deal more in this selection than 

 the majority of growers think. 



The same remarks regarding the sav- 

 ing of seed hold good with melons. I 

 find that the English varieties are best 

 for forcing. I have tried Frogmore Scar- 

 let, but think Royal Sovereign is an im- 

 provement. I have never gone into melon 

 forcing to any extent ; in fact, I may say 

 I am only in the experimental stage. I 

 cannot find any dealers who have handled 

 greenhouse melons during the winter 

 and spring months, as they are seldom 

 or ever to be found in the market, since 

 there is no demand for them, but they 

 are a delicacy that ought to take and 

 command a good price if the trade was 

 worked up. Such a fruit as you describe 

 ought to be worth 25 cents per pound, 

 and may even command more after a 

 trade is created. A higher price would 

 be necessary to make them a paying crop 

 through the winter months. 



W. S. Crotdon, 



SeedJiadeNews. 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION. 



Pres S. P. Wlllam, Wethersfleld Conn.; First 

 vu-e-viek J. Chas. McCuUoueh, Cincinnati, O., 

 iiS?„ and Treas C. B. Kendel, Cleveland, O. 

 The'22d aVual meeW will be held at St. LonlB, 

 Mo., June. 19M. 



Orlando, Fla. — J. F. Allen is doing a 

 fine business and steadily enlarging his 

 facilities. 



The market gardeners have lost prac- 

 tu'aliy one planting. 



Onion sets are well cleaned up, orders 

 more plentiful than stock. 



Visited Chicago. — Chas. Loeehner, of 

 Suzuki & lida. New York and Yoko- 

 hama. 



Kepokts from the east are somewhat 

 more encouraging than those from the 

 middle west. 



The backward season is responsiblo 

 for present offerings of stocks that were 

 '■sold out" some time ago. 



The city of Pittsburg has appro- 

 priated $5,000 for the purchase of bulbs 

 for fall planting in the parks. 



Shenandoah, Ia. — There was a small 

 fire at Henry Field's seed bouse last 

 week, but little damage was done. 



Within the next two weeks sweet 

 corn and cucumber seed will be looked 

 for and those who have the stock should 

 not w^orry till after that. 



Chicago. — The official weather report 

 shows that on April 20 the temperature 

 did not go above 32 degrees, on April 

 23 it reached -79 and on April 24 it 

 got back to 41 degrees. 



Boston, April 25.^Seed dealers report 

 that there is a serious congestion of busi- 

 ness. One firm was over 1,000 mail or- 

 ders behind April 23 and some days 

 must elapse before they can catch up. 

 Counter trade is very heavy. 



Counter trade in general hangs along 

 without any great spurt. The outlook 

 is that by the end of the season it may 

 foot up equal to previous years, but the 

 expense in caring for it will go into the 

 profits heavily. 



AVith the jobbers reports in general 

 show that the extra fine weather of last 

 Saturday gave an impetus to fill in or- 

 ders the early part of the week, but the 

 cool weather which so quickly followed 

 put things back to where they were 

 again. 



Chicago. — Little change in conditions 

 is noted since last week, no improvement 

 in trade and verj' little added to the 

 number of acres planted. The rains in 

 the early part of week shut off seeding 

 for onion sets. Some parts of the high 

 ground are seeded, the largest planting 

 reported being some thirty acres on ridge 

 land. Several days of real good weather 

 will be needed before the average land 

 will stand seeding. 



CUSHMSN'S HYBRID 

 1904 GLADIOLUS BULBS 



AT PRACTICAL LIVING PRICES 



Our Bulbfi are not better than the best, but better than the rest. 

 Try them; S.'i.OO per thousand for fine blooming size. Light mixture. 



GUSHMAN GLADIOLUS GO., SYLYANIA, 0. 



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