January 19. 1918 



H R T 1 C U L T U K E 



WHY NOT CHANGE OVER FOR A WHILE 



''You want me to speak right out frankly, 1 assume. 

 So I am' going to tell you that — for a little while, at 

 least — the most important thing you can do is to keep 

 a tight hold on your patieuce and see that both feet: are 

 kept planted solidly on the ground." 



The above quotation is not liy me, but is in perfect 

 accord with pieseiit circumstances affecting the florists 

 and especially the growers of flowers. No use to dwell 

 upon any tales of woe as to the havoc and damage 

 caused by the recent cold spell and by the still remaining 

 shortage of fuel. The damage has been done and is 

 .serious, for many greenhouse men amounting to al- 

 most complete disaster. Almost complete and certainly 

 going to be wholly complete, imless the unfortunate vic- 

 tim shakes himself into shape, reads the above quoted 

 passage over'and over until he knows it by heart and 

 then on the strength of it resolves to make a new trial, 

 so as to get a new foothold for himself. 



I tell you the future can hold no terrors 



For any sad soul v.-hile the stars revolve. 

 If he will but stand firm on the grave of his unfortunate 

 . errors, 



And instead of regretting, Resolve, Resolve! 

 It is never to late to begin rebuilding. 



Though all into ruins your life seems hurled, 

 For look! How the light of the "New Year" is gilding 



The worn, wan face of this bruised world. 



Now, quoting and reading verses and things may be 

 all right in_ its way and even pleasant, but a grower 

 with his houses or part of them frozen solid or not 

 having a chance of getting coal enough to keep his place 

 warm enough for roses or carnations so that they will 

 pay him, wants to know p. d. q. what move he is going 

 to make next. . If the grower is somewhat wise he will 

 be careful at the same time to grab something safe and 

 .solid, something that will give him a show to get out of 

 the hole and to leave the hole where he will never see 

 it again. 



For a flower grower it is not a very handy thing to 

 switch off onto something outside his accustomed line 

 and to feel sure that. it will pay him a reasonable return, 

 without his investing a bunch of dollars in the new 

 venture. Still, there is at the present time just a 

 chance at hand, where from now or a little later on until 

 the first or last of June, a grower can start, raise and 

 .sell a crop not costing him much and selling for a good 

 value, presiuning the man has gumption enough to ask 

 a ])aying price. 



Last year the call for young vegetable plants, sur- 

 prised everybody and the supply in all lines and of all 

 kinds was in no way equal to the demand, .so much so 

 that prices for young tomatoes, cabbages, celery, leek, 

 onions, etc., went .sky high and many a grower made a 

 pretty penny. The same conditions will without doubt 

 prevail this year and very likely the demand will lie 

 very much stronger and the quantity a.sked for much 

 larger. 



If I had had my greenhouses frozen up or if 1 should 

 contemjilate reducing the present output of flowers, on 

 account of the present low price, 1 should proceed about 

 as follows: 1 should not waste any coal on any house 

 that does not now ])roduce a paying crop, but should let 

 the house or bonnes lay idle for a while. About the SOtb 

 or ■,^")th of l'"ebruarv T should <r>w in flats enonah of 



tomatoes, cabbage, etc., to fill my house, houses or 

 benches with the plants after they have been pricked 

 off into 2 or 2^ inch dirt bands. And let me tell you 

 right here, it will take a lot more of the plants than 

 some of you may think, so it will be well to measure 

 the available space correctly beforehand and that lot of 

 plants if well grown will also bring a lot of money and 

 l)ay big for the trouble. 



The seed can be sown in flats in a greenhouse or in a 

 mild hotbed and for four weeks the plants will not re- 

 quire much room. By this time the house or houses 

 that have been without heat can be started up and the 

 seedlings pricked -ofi: into other boxes 2 inches apart each 

 way, or into 2 or 2|. inch dirt bands. I had things 

 managed in this way last spring and pricked my plants 

 off into 2 inch dirt bands and they did exceedingly well. 

 The bands can be .set into flats or into shallow boxes that 

 hold two dozen or fifty. Or they can be set on the bare 

 hoards of the benches, then filled and planted. There 

 should be no soil under the bands, just the bare board, 

 — the idea is to keep the plants from growing too rank 

 and time them for sale properly. 



It will be well not to grow any of the tall-growing 

 kinds of tomatoes. Chalk's Early Jewell and Dwarf 

 Champion made an excellent show in the bands and 

 when the people had been made to see how easily the 

 plants would transplant without being checked, there 

 was no trouble in getting a largely advanced price at 

 any time or from anybody and the more the people saw 

 of those plants the more i^eople wanted them. My plants 

 last spring were kejit on the cool side surely 

 at night and hardly ever had more than 42 degrees as 

 long as firing was needed. In the daytime they got 

 plenty of air and leasonable and seasonable tempera- 

 ture. The watering was done as carefully as possible, 

 only when absolutely needed and then well, and early in 

 the forenoon as it is advisable not to have the leaves next 

 the ground moist at night. 



The point is to raise the plants with as little coal and 

 a.s strong and sturdy as can be done, so as to have at 

 selling time something good enough for people to be 

 willing to pay a good price for. In a lively town or 

 village a little judicious advertising from the very start 

 of the planting season will bring customers quick 

 enougji and if, in the ad., mention and explanation is 

 made regarding the advantages of the dirt bands so 

 much the better for all concerned. The plants in the 

 dirt bands will be away ahead of any raised in pots: 

 they will not dry out so often on a warm, windy day 

 nnd will always have a much better color. 



If on account of the .soil getting somewhat exhausted 

 towards the end (very rich soil should not he used at 

 pricking olT-time) the plants should fall off in color, a 

 sprinkling of any kind of fertilizer, mixed with soil, 

 will bring the plants to reason in almost less than no 

 time. But do not overdo it. 



Now, I think this is one way to keep one's patience. 

 Show and use a lot of it, "keep both feet to the ground" 

 and fiot only resolve to rebuild, but to actnallv do it. 



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