March 30, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



423 



application of hen manure and liquid manure, nitrate of 

 Boda, etc. Little is known about the best commercial 

 fertilizers for cucumbers, and their use should be re- 

 stricted as a rule to expert growers. In case they are 

 used, advice should be sought from reliable firms and 

 specialists. Cucumbers are particularly sensitive to cer- 

 tain fertilizer element?, and when these elements are 

 present in a soil to a certain degree, root absorption is 

 prsv<-nted and wilting and curling of the leaves and 

 other malformations are likely to result. 



Amherst, Hass. 

 (The next article will treat on culture, diseases, etc.) 



Some Features of the Sim Plant 

 at Clif tondale 



The remark was recently made by a prominent Bos- 

 ton sweet pea grower, that so far as he knew, there was 

 only one party in either Europe or America who made 

 a business of bringing out a race of sweet peas distinc- 

 tively in the forcing class, and tliat was Zvolanek of 

 New Jersey. W. C. Ward of WoUaston, Mass., has made 

 a comparative test of a number of the earliest types of 

 the Blanche Ferry variety, the present season, including 

 Zvolanek's Christmas. Wm. Sim of Cliftondale, Mass., 

 grows only Christmas, with one exception, and the pos- 

 sibilities of this race, under forced culture, as brought 

 out by him are well demonstrated at his place. 



Seed of the Blanche Ferry variety were planted in one 

 of the violet houses late in October, in soil prepared 

 for the successive crops of violets and sweet pea?. The 

 rows of the latter follow the line of posts supporting 

 the roof, a space a foot wide having been left for that 

 purpose when the violets were planted. Violet temper- 

 ature was maintained imtil after February first, when 

 the peas began to show flower, and the temperature was 

 allowed to run up. A little later the violet plants next 

 to the pea line on either side were dug up, Under the 

 influence of increased heat and light, buds and flowers 

 multiplied rapidly, the flowers coming very fine in size 

 and color with from two to five blossoms on long stiff 

 stems. Tlie house is 360 feet long. The rows, three in 

 number, run lengthwise. At the present time, March 

 first, the peas are well started in flowering and there is 

 not a weak or thin place to be seen in these far-reach- 

 ing lines, but the same stocky, thrifty vine-habit and 

 heavy flowering qualities are evenly manifested up and 

 down the entire lengths. Including the production of 

 two superb rows of Mont Blanc, which have received 

 contemporaneous treatment and complete the capacity 

 of the house, a cut of eight thousand blooms in one day 

 has been made, with a reasonable possibility of four or 

 five times that mimber by Easter. Careful attention 

 is given to tying and supporting the vines. Tlie row 

 alignment is nearly perfect with no barren vine-growth 

 and the whole appearance is that of a house well on its 

 way to a record, in the annals of sweet pea forcing. 



In another violet house are various colors of Christ- 

 mas planted about two weeks later which have received 

 similar treatment. The rows are four feet apart and 

 run across the house. The dwarf, stocky vine-habit and 

 early flowering qualities of the pink and white are man- 

 ifested in these colors. They throw a single stalk and 

 branch from that, instead of suekering, which is con- 



sidered a distinctive feature of the forcing class. The 

 red, light pink, blue and lavender are good in color, 

 but the style of the flower is not of the desired nature. 

 A sweet pea, in order to be right, should open its outer 

 petals in such a way that the back shall have a broad, 

 fiat aspect. Now and" then there is one among the blues, 

 which does this, but the general tendency is to curl the 

 petals inward. When the desired flower habit shall 

 have been established, the range of color possible to 

 this race of sweet peas evidently will be as wide as is 

 that of the field grown. As the floriferousness of 

 Blanche Ferry and Mont Blanc is approximated in these 

 other varieties, the problem for the grower of the 

 future will be to so forecast the market that time, ef- 

 fort and space will not be wasted in growing colors 

 that will not sell. It is probable that the larger part 

 of the production of this house will be disposed of at 

 comparative advantage and altogether it seems that with 

 successful growers sweet peas are all right for a spring 

 crop. But Mr. Sim, like Mr. Ward, is of the opinion 

 that a straight house of peas for the entire season is a 

 doubtful proposition. 



Nearly 50,000 Comet tomato plants are grown and 

 fruited annually at this establishment, with a crop of 

 nearly one hundred tons a past achievement and a 

 future probability. Twenty thousand are fruited under 

 glass, the seed being sown the first of January. From 

 the seed bed they are pricked out into flats and then 

 successively transplanted into 2 1-2-inch, 4-inch pots 

 and the bench, where they are to be grown. Work of 

 removing the violet plants begins immediately after 

 Easter, and setting out the tomato plants follows 

 closely. 



There are no elevations for benches or depressions 

 for walks in any of the Sim houses, the beds and walks 

 during the violet season being marked off by narrow- 

 strips of boards set edgewise in the ground. These are 

 taken up and the tomato plants placed from fifteen to 

 eighteen inches apart in rows that run across the house 

 with only one walk nmning lengthwise through the- 

 centre. The rows alternate eighteen inches and twenty- 

 four inches apart. No additional fertilizing material is- 

 placed under the tomato plants, as a sufficient quantity 

 was incorporated for both crops at the beginning of the 

 reason but wells have been driven, a steam pump set 

 up, tanks built and pipes laid for the purpose of leading 

 a supply of liquid manure to all parts of the range, and 

 the tomato plants are fed later on from this source. 



Seed for the field crop is sown about the middle of 

 February and the plants are also grown in pots. The 

 last of May these are placed two feet apart, in rows that 

 are 3 feet apart, in order to allow for horge cultivation, 

 but they are trained to stakes and trimmed of laterals 

 the same as the inside ones. 



It is said that the products of the Sim plant create a 

 stir in all the markets they enter and this is hardly ta 

 be wondered at. Two acres of single violets under 

 glass followed by the same area of tomato and cucum- 

 bers, with an intermediate crop of sweet peas, the aver- 

 age daily cut of which would be considered immense 

 for a field grown crop, supplemented by twenty-five 

 thousand well-grown, heavily fruited tomato plants in 

 the open field constitute a supply in each several line, 

 which would be likely to create an impression. 



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