THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



359 



plants began to bear, water was applied copiously in the 

 morning and evening. 



The training of the plants, although not difficult to 

 perform, required considerable time. The young shoots 

 grew rapidly, which made it necessary to go over the 

 house almost daily to cut out the undesirable branches 

 and to tie the remaining ones to the wire trellis with 

 raffia. The plants were trained to a single main stem 

 with side branches from 6 to 8 inches apart along two 

 sides. 



One of the peculiarities of the English cucumber is that 

 its flowers will produce fruit without fertilization. This 

 is rarely the case with plants growing in the wild state, 

 and all cultivated species of any importance demand that 

 fertilization take place or no fruits will be formed. The 

 flowers of the cucumber are such that the gardener can 

 very easily prevent pollination from taking place. The 

 stamina — male — are borne in one flower and the pis- 

 tils — female — are produced in an entirely separate one. 

 All that is necessary is to remove the staminate flowers 

 before the pollen has been scattered. Experience has 

 shown that if the staminate blossoms are removed and 

 fertilization of the pistil is intercepted the fruits will be 

 seedless, longer, straighter and of much better quality. 

 For this reason the staminate flowers, which are easily 

 distinguished from the pistallate forms, are removed as 

 soon as they appear. — From Country Gentleman. 



TOMATOES UNDER GLASS. 



This vegetable thrives best in houses that admit the 

 maximum amount of light and sunshine. There should 

 be a height of not less than 6 feet from the top of the 

 solid ground beds to the under side of the roof bars at the 

 sides of the house, and a height of 7 or 8 feet is an ad- 

 vantage. Many people suppose that the tomato thrives 

 much better in sandy soils than in heavy silts and clay 

 loams. Although the former possess many advantages 

 the heavier types produce most excellent crops of green- 

 house tomatoes. 



Starting the right character of plants is essential to 

 success. They should be stocky or short-jointed, with no 

 suggestion of softness in stems or leaves. The first clus- 

 ter of fruit should appear near the ground, and fruit de- 

 velopment should be well advanced when the plants are 

 set in the permanent beds in order to maintain only mod- 

 erate growth of stems and leaves. Controlled root devel- 

 opment in the pots is also a means for the accomplish- 

 ment of this purpose. Inexperienced growers cannot give 

 too much attention to these two points, for they are ex- 

 ceedingly important in relation to yield. 



It is customary to sow the seeds in beds or flats. The 

 first transplanting made be made in flats, allowing not less 

 than two inches of space between plants. Before there is 

 any crowding the plants should be shifted to 3j^-inch or 

 preferably 4-inch pots, from which they are usually 

 planted in the permanent beds. Sometimes it becomes 

 necessary to hold the jilants in pots longer tlian was an- 

 ticipated, in which event another shift should be made 

 to 5-inch or 6-inch pots. Free ventilation and watering 

 are important factors in the growing of plants. 



The pruning and training of tomatoes in greenhouse 

 culture are simple operations. Single-stem training is 

 now universally jjracticed. It consists simjily in pinching 

 out with the thumb and fingers all lateral or axillary 

 shoots as soon as possible after their appearance. These 

 side shoots grow very rapidly and the plants must be 

 looked over at least twice a week in order to remove 

 them before they have attained any considerable size. The 

 tops are also nipped after the plants have made a growth 



of from 514 to 7 feet. Where there is an excessive 

 growth of foliage it is an advantage to remove some of 

 the leaves, or at least parts of them, and as the fruit ripens 

 and is removed the lower more or less deadened leaves are 

 taken ofl: and removed from the house. Defoliating the 

 lower parts of the plants is also favorable to better circu- 

 lation of air between the plants, and this is of urgent 

 importance in connection with the control of diseases 

 and the pollination of the flowers. 



Though the soil between the tomato plants should 

 usually be cultivated, especially if it is a silt or clay 

 loam, this operation may be reduced to a minimum by 

 mulching with manure. Any kind of stable manure may 

 be used as a mulch, but the universal custom is to employ 

 horse manure which is generally fresh or only slightly 

 decomposed. The mulch, which should be about three 

 inches thick, is most often applied when the fruit is well 

 set to the full height of the plants. It serves the follow- 

 ing purposes : Conserves soil moisture, thus reducing 

 labor and evil efifects of frequent watering : prevents weed 

 growth, furnishes soluble plant food whenever water is 

 applied. In eft'ect. mulching materially increases the size 

 of fruits and total yields, although it may be possible to 

 get as heavy yields without mulching provided extreme 

 care is exercised in preparing the soil and in subsequent 

 feeding and watering. It is sufficient to say here that 

 the mulch is regarded as an essential factor in the pro- 

 duction of greenhouse tomatoes. The night temperature 

 for tomatoes should be not less than 60 degrees, and dur- 

 ing the day it should be about 10 degrees higher. With 

 sunshine much higher temperatures will do no harm, but 

 will be beneficial to pollination and rapid, healthy growth. 

 Free ventilation is important in order to avoid diseases 

 and also to encourage a heavy setting of fruit. — Ex- 

 change. 



HARDY ROSES 



Order now and secure 

 the strongest 2-year old 

 plants that will bloom 

 profusely this summer. 



See Page 58 of Our 1913 

 Catalogue 



For Varieties and Description 



W. E. MARSHALL & CO. 



SEEDS, BULBS, PLANTS 



165 West 23d Street, New York 



