138 



H B T I C U L T U K E 



August 1, 1914 



Forcing Tomatoes and Cucumbers 



Dear Sir — Having some tliougtits to build a greenhouse 

 for growing tomatoes and cucumbers I should like to have 

 some information if you would kindly give me same. 



Which is the best kind of a house adapted for this? 

 Our preference would be for an even span, say about 100 

 feet long. Would you have the plants on bed, benches or 

 pots? Please state also the temperature to be maintained 

 for both kinds in the winter. Our idea would be. a partition 

 in the center. 



I might say that I always enjoy reading your articles 



in HORTICULTDKE. 



Thanking you in advance for this and any other infor- 

 mation you think would be valuable, I am, 



N. J. Yours very truly, H. A. S. 



In answer to the foregoing I would say first that an 

 even-span house is well adapted for either crop. It 

 would be of great importance to have a partition in the 

 house, as these two crops require different temperature 

 and atmospheric moisture. Tomatoes to be made a 

 paying crop will want a light and tight house which 

 should be high enough to allow of training the plants, 

 which should be at least 5 to 6 feet above the soil in all 

 parts. The temperature should be from 60 to 65 de- 

 grees at night; for dull days 10 degrees higher, and on 

 bright days it can run up to about 80, but ventilate at 

 about 73 degrees. If you could plan to have them on 

 benches they would grow there best. They can lie planted 

 two feet apart in the rows and leaving about three feet 

 between the rows. Give them a rich compost, say 

 fibrous loam three parts, well decayed manure one part. 

 To have a heavy crop they should be hand-pollinated 

 every day. This can be done by going around on all 

 bright days with watch-glass and tapping all open flow- 

 ers, so as to collect the pollen, and when you have 

 enough collected touch the end of the stigma of each 

 open flower. While the plants are in bloom the atmos- 

 phere should be kept very dry as this helps out artificial 

 aid in pollination. Train the plants to single stem, 

 pinching out all side growths as they appear, but leaving 

 the top for a leader. Wlien the crop begins to swell 

 start feeding with liquid manure once a week. 



Cucumbers like a warm and moist atmosphere. 

 When they are first set out they will require careful 

 watering, but when they are three or four feet high they 

 will take an abundance of water at the roots, with lots 

 of syringing. It is then difficult to over-water them if 

 they are healthy and the weather good. The best tem- 

 perature is about 68 degrees at night, 70 being the ex- 

 treme. In other words the temperature must be kept 

 pretty even at all times. On bright days it should run 

 up to 80 or 85 degrees and in dark weather 5 or 10 

 above the night temperature will be about right. 

 Cucumbers like a good bottom heat and I think that a 

 soil temperature of 75 degi-ees is not too high, although 

 many growers theorize that it should not be higher than 

 the night temperature of the house. This crop wants 

 very careful ventilation. Give Just enough each day to 

 keep the temperature right. The ventilators should be 

 raised a trifle as the temperature begins to rise in the 

 morning and a little more added as may be necessary. 

 Chills and drafts are always to be avoided. The atmos- 

 pheric condition is what will require the time, labor, 

 study and patience on the part of the cucumber grower. 

 By condition of the atmosphere is meant temperature, 

 moisture and ventilation. Give cucumbers a rich com- 

 post, — about the same as for tomatoes. If the soil is 

 somewhat stiff add enough of sand to make it loose and 

 porous. The cucumber bears two kinds of blossoms on 

 different parts of the plant. The staminate or non-fruit 

 bearing blossom is the first to appear. The pistillate 

 flower, with the little pickle at the base appears later. 

 In order to have a good set of cucumbers it will be neces- 



sary to do some hand pollinating. This may be accom- 

 plished by the use of a camel's hair brush. In using the 

 brush it is essential to touch each of the female flowers 

 with the brush but flrst get enough of pollen from the 

 male flowers. An occasional shaking of the plants when 

 the air is dry will help materially in the distribution of 

 the pollen. The distance to plant should be about three 

 feet apart each way. 



Dirca palustris 



The Leatherwoud, so called on account of the tough- 

 ness of its bark, a native of the United States, with a 

 range extending from New Brunswick to Florida, Mis- 

 souri and Minnesota, and one of our best native shrubs 

 for natural planting, is for some unknown reason re- 

 ceiving little attention from the nurseries. 



It is a member of the family Thymeleaceae, to which 

 belongs also the Daphne, and while it is not as beau- 

 tiful as the latter it is fully as useful in its proper place. 

 It should be planted in a good moist loam and does not 

 mind lime, since it is to be found in deeply shaded situ- 

 ations on the limestone bluffs which line the course of 

 the Alabama River, where it finds its southern limit. 

 So far as the writer has been able to ascertain there are 

 no insects or fungous diseases that attack the Dirca, 

 although in 1896 there was reported a fungus, Aecidium 

 sp., found on Dirca palustris in Winston County, Ala. 

 The report does not state w'hether or not this fungus 

 does any material harm to the plant. 



The Leatherwood is not a conspicuous shruli in regard 

 to flowers, although these are of a yellowish hue and ap- 

 jjear early in the spring before the leaves, but is more 

 valued for its habit in forming a symmetrical, almost 

 tree-like shrub in favorable locations, with such thick 

 and luxuriant foliage as to make an impenetrable screen 

 four to five feet in height. It is thus particularly useful 

 in natural border planting in moist land. 



All authorities state that the fruits, which are borne 

 immediately after the flowers have fallen, are red and 

 drupe-like. While this may be true of the shrub in 

 favorable localities, we in the north rarely see the fruits 

 get red; in fact, they drop before they are hardly yel- 

 lowish, a habit of most of our native moisture-loving 

 plants. This makes the seed hard to obtain in suf- 

 ficient quantities for propagation, although it germi- 

 nates readily. The best method aside from propagation 

 by seed, for increasing this plant is by layering in June, 

 a method which is very successful. 



The Leatherwood, as I have stated, derives its name 

 from the extreme toughness of its bark, which, when 

 taken from a well developed stem will tax the strength 

 of two men to lireak it. It was used by the Indians and 

 early settlers for string, thongs and ropes and in the 

 manufacture of baskets. It has certain medicinal qual- 

 ities as an emetic, and was not to be overlooked as a cure 

 for toothache. 



This plant, if more often found in nurseries, would, I 

 have no doubt, find ready sale to planters, provided, how- 

 ever, it could be propagated in sufficient quantities to 

 keep the price at a reasonable limit. 



<fiiJ<AA % 



Brookline, Mass. 



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