May 5, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



1265 



Vegetable Forcing. 



Eureka, III. — C. L. W. Snyder is 

 making a success ojf lettuce under glass 

 and is building an addition to his glass, 

 20x50 feet. 



Spkixgfield, O. — The Springfield Floral 

 Co. is making a trial of C. W. Skin- 

 ner's patent system of irrigation for use 

 in the greenhouse. It promises to be 

 verj- valuable for special crops, such as 

 lettuce, cucumbers, etc. 



Grand Eapids, Mich. — The monthly 

 meeting of the Grand Eiver Valley Hor- 

 ticultural Society was held April 12 at 

 the home of Eugene Davis, the large 

 grower of winter vegetables. Henry 

 Smith was one of the speakeis. 



THE MARKETS. 



Chicago, May 4. — Radishes. 25 to 55c 

 ■dozen bunches; rhubarb, 40 to COc 40- 

 pound box: lettuce. Iiends, .5Ue to $1.25 

 bushel, leaf, 15 to 30c case; cucumbers, 

 50 to 75c dozen. Large receipts. 



Boston, May 2. — All kiuds of vege- 

 tables are arriving more freely and prices 

 are lower. Cucumbers in full supply at 

 $2 to $3.50 per bushel. Lettuce continues 

 from at 60 to So cents a dozen. Rad- 

 ishes, 20c dozen ; mint, 75c per dozen ; 

 ■watercress, 75c dozen; parsley, $1 to 

 $1.25 per bushel. Tomatoes are abun- 

 dant and of good quality; the best bring 

 25 cents. Soft or windy fruit sell as 

 low as 10 cents. Rhubarb 4 to 5 cents, 

 will be much lower in a few days as out- 

 door supplies will be in. Mushrooms 

 scarce at 75 cents to $1 pound. 



New York, May 2. — On Saturday there 

 was considerable urging to move the large 

 stock on hand, facing Sunday and warm- 

 er weather. Lettuce from the south was 

 sold a shade oft', otherwise this item holds 

 fairly steady. Cold frame product, heads, 

 is .$1.50 to $3.50 barrel; local rhubarj), 

 $2 to $3 100 bunches. 



TROUBLE WITH TOMATOES. 



C. D. G.'s trouble in having a propor- 

 tion of hollow or w'iudy winter tomatoes 

 as reported April 28, is quite a common 

 ■one. There are few growers in the east 

 who have not had some experience with 

 it each year. Some kinds seem to be 

 more predisposed to throw windy fruit 

 than others. Eclipse, Frogmore and Che- 

 min occurring to me at this time, the 

 first named being the worst in this re- 

 spect. With Rochford, Stirling Castle 

 and Best of All we have had less trou- 

 ble ; the best w'inter "setters" seem the 

 most prone to come soft. 



We do not think the most careful arti- 

 ficial pollination will overcome this trou- 

 ble, for we have seen crops hand fertil- 

 ized each day quite badly affected. Too 

 much root run, keeping the soil too moist 

 and lack of bottom lieat are more likely 

 to be the causes. On plants grown in 

 large boxes or pots we have never had 

 any windy fruit; it has always been on 

 plants grown in benches. For success- 

 ful midwinter fruiting tomatoes must 

 have a veiy restricted root run. They 

 should either be in boxes or narrow 

 raised benches. In solid beds success is 

 very doubtful. We do not believe that 

 bottom heat is necessary for a success- 

 ful winter crop, but we find it helps quite 

 a little. A vei-y little steam or hot wa- 

 ter below the benches will do the work. 



There is little trouble with soft to- 

 matoes except from December 1 to March 

 1. We would advise a night temperature 

 not less than 60 degrees, one 5 degrees 

 liigher being better; dry atmosphere, 

 greater root restriction and raised 

 benches in all cases. 



We can confidently recommend Stirling 

 Castle as an Al winter fruiter. It is 

 not large, but sets freely and is with us 

 very firm, a tiifle better than Eochford's. 

 wliich, however, is superior for late fall 

 and early spring use. 



In regard to melons, almost every 

 grower has his pet variety, each claim- 

 ing his to be the best. In addition to 

 tlie English kinds we would suggest to 

 C. G. D. the desirability of trying a good 

 selection of Emerald Gem and Rocky 

 Ford. These are fine-flavored varieties, 

 of easier culture than the 'English ones, 

 but rather more susceptible to disease. 

 If. however, he can get clean stock and 

 save seed from the same he will find 

 them strictly first-class. We can send 

 ( '. D. G. a "few seeds of Emerald Gem 

 guaranteed if he cares to try them. 



W. N. Craig. 



MARKET FOR TOMATOES. 



Are there many hothouse tomatoes 

 shipped to the Chicago market in win- 

 ter? What was the average price per 

 pound, wholesale, this winter, and what 

 are they bringing now? J. W. 



E'arl Bros., who are among the largest 

 li;;nd!ers of greenhouse lettuce and cU* 

 cumbers in Chicago, say that there is no 

 regular supply of hothouse tomatoes in 

 ■winter and hence no established market. 

 What few hothouse tomatoes come in 

 arc usually sold direct to the big hotels 

 and fashionable restaurants and do not 

 go through the comm.ission dealers' 

 h.-aids. Probably 40 to 50 cents a pound 

 would be the ordinary price for a win- 

 ter crop of good quality. The first reg- 

 ular supply on South Water street is in 

 February, ' when the Florida tomatoes 

 arrive. These are in six-basket cases and 

 if sound, smooth and well colored the 

 first offered fetch $3 to $4 per ease, ac- 

 ccnling to quality. 



CUCUMBERS. 



We have a range of connected houses, 

 no partition walls, in which we have been 

 growing lettuce. Since about February 

 1, as the side benches were cleared of let- 

 tuce we filled them tvith transplanted cu- 

 cumber plants from pots. Some of my 

 neighbors said I would have to get a 

 swarm of bees or else hand pollinate the 

 flowers to make the fruit set. But it 

 don't look so. Some of the ■vines six 

 weeks on the bench have made a growth 

 of two feet or a little more, with about 

 three or four pairs of leaves. They seem 

 to have set plenty of fruit, if not too 

 much. You can count six and eight little 

 cucumbers on some of the axils. Is that 

 all right? To me it looks like a good 

 deal of fruit for a very little vine. Should 

 any be pinched out? This is my first trial 

 ■with cucumbers and I wouldn't like to 

 lose the crop. It has been a hard winter 

 and we need the money. M. H. 



I don't think that it is necessary for 

 j\r. H. to get a swarm nt" bees into his 

 cucumbel- house, although they may be 

 useful in pollinating and may be all right 

 after you make their acquaintance; nev- 

 ertheless thev will assert their rights as 



owner of the house and before you get on 

 visiting terms with them you are apt to 

 get the worst of the argument if you 

 trouble them much. Personally I aiu 

 always more or less suspicious of their 

 tail end, and like to keep as far away 

 from them as possible. It does not take 

 long to run over cucumber houses and set 

 the flowers by hand and this is surer than 

 the bee system. 



I have always found it necessary to 

 hand pollinate to insure a good set and if 

 il. H. has a variety that will set in 

 bunches of six or eight at the one axil it 

 must bo quite an acquisition unless it is 

 a pickling variety and even on that I 

 have never seen fruit set as he describes 

 on such small vines. On the main stem of 

 the vine it is very seldom that female 

 flowers are produced. Male flowers will 

 usually appear from every axil, and often 

 in bunches, but it is on the lateral or side 

 shoots that we have to depend for the 

 female flowers and even here it is seldom 

 that they are produced otherwise than 

 singly. They ■will sometimes come in pairs 

 but I have never seen them in bunches of 

 six or eight. Even when two come at one 

 axil I prefer to pinch one off, as they 

 seldom both mature well. 



The female flower has the small cucum- 

 ber or seed vessel behind it and when the 

 flower ■withers up and the little cucumber 

 remains, the inexperienced grower might 

 think the fruit was set, but a few days 

 will undeceive him, when the fruits fail to 

 swell, turn yellow and fall off. 



White Spine is the most generally 

 grown and best selling variety for market 

 purposes and to insure proper fertiliza- 

 tion hand pollination is the safest and 

 only sure method. The long English frame 

 varieties will swell without being fertil- 

 ized and make just as good fruit but will 

 be useless for seeding purposes, as with- 

 out being fertilized the seed will not ma- 

 ture. Cucumbers are easily pollinated by 

 hand, the flowers being large enough to be 

 easily handled. The male flower should 

 be picked off, the petals stripped from it 

 to free the stamen, from which the pollen 

 can be transferred by rubbing on the stig- 

 ma of the female flower. Sufficient pollen 

 is usually produced on one male flower to 

 polHnate several of the female, but as a 

 rule the male flowers are more freely pro- 

 duced than the female, hence it is safer 

 to use plenty of pollen and insure fertil- 

 ization. 



It seems to me that there must be some- 

 thing wrong with the cultivation given by 

 M. H. ; probably his temperature is too 

 low, as plants six weeks in the bench, 

 even if they were very small at the time 

 of planting from the pots, ought to have 

 made more growth than two feet. A stunt- 

 ed growth might account for the female 

 flowers being produced on the main stem 

 when the plants were so small. It is a 

 law of nature that a stunted or half 

 starved plant will flower more freely than 

 a plant that is in a healthy, free growing 

 state. We often hear this expressed as a 

 plant flowering itself to death, which is 

 really what a plant will do in attempting 

 to fulfill nature's law and reproduce it- 

 self before it finally succumbs. 



W. S. Crotdon. 



YouNGSTWrt-N, O. — J. C. Schuffert has 

 a big stock of spring plants at his place 

 at Crab Creek and is doing a nice busi- 

 ness, also, in the line of cut flowers and 

 funeral designs. 



Osage, Ia. — W. S. Hall has been add- 

 ing to his place, until he now has 10,000 

 feet of glass. 



