74 



HOETICULTURE 



July 20. 1912 



FRUIT AND VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS 



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CONDUCTED BY 



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Questions by our readers In line with any of the topics presented on this page will he cordially received and prnrnptly answered 

 by Mr. Fenson. Such communications should invariably be addressed to the office of HOKTICULTCIIB. 



Pot Up Strawberries 



Strawberries should be repotted as soon as they till 

 the three-inch with roots. Do not let them remain in 

 the small laots long enough to become root-bound or a 

 diflSculty will be experiencel in getting tliem started in 

 the sixes. No plant grows as it should, if allowed to 

 starve in a small pot. The six-inch pots should pre- 

 viously have been cleaned and now recjiiire to be 

 properly drained. This is a point to emphasize in straw- 

 berry growing; the pots must be drained thoroughly, 

 or when they are being forced no end of trouble will be 

 caused. Growing at this stage a strawlaerry relishes lots 

 of water and feed is also applied in liquid form. If 

 this cannot pass and allow the soil to get a shade dryer 

 and absorb a little air, the whole ball will soon turn 

 sour, with such results as will cause failure. Broken 

 pots or rough ashes will answer the purpose, the former 

 preferable. After adjusting the drainage in each pot 

 drop a teaspoonfull of soot on top of it. This will help 

 to keep out woi-ms whose delight it is to stop up all drain- 

 age. 



As to suitable soil for potting strawberries, one need 

 not be so particular so long as it is sweet and rich. 

 Ordinary loam chopped down from the heap with some 

 lasting manure added (fine bone meal is good) will be 

 all right. Should the loam be heavy and there is any 

 danger of its ramming too hard to allow the water to 

 pass, mix in enough old mushroom bed, previoiasly 

 passed through a thi-ee quarter-inch sieve, to keep it open. 

 Needless to say, select the best plants for potting all the 

 time and right from the start use the rammer with 

 vigor. Providing the soil is not wet it will be difBeult 

 to make the plants too hard. When potted remove the 

 plants to a level space having an ash bottom and stand 

 them pot thick for a time. This will help retain the 

 moisture around them. Spray the plants over con- 

 tinually to encourage them to get off the mark. The 

 cMef aim which should always be kept in mind is to get 

 a good sound well-developed crown before winter. 



Mushroom Spawn 



'V\niich of the two manufactured mushroom spavms is 

 the best — American or Englisli made — is a question 

 often discussed ^nth some vigor. The vei7 name itself 

 makes one slide up and down the scale of uncertainty. 

 To begin with we must remember there is poor, as well 

 as good spawn found no matter where it is made and, 

 as I have stated l^efore in these columns, — often the 

 spawn is not to blame. Those beds must be right or good 

 spawn will go wrong. Growing both side by side in the 

 same bed will prove what little difference there is. To us 

 the noticeable difference is that the American spawn 

 comes a little earlier, throws up a speedy crop of medium- 



sized mushrooms and gets through in a short time 

 lacking the recuperative powers of its slower rival. The 

 English spawn has been known to take a week to ten days 

 longer to come and the mushrooms take longer to grow, 

 making up a thicker and larger product. The beds seem 

 to have a good "come back" or later crops in them after 

 a watering. These are distinctions ; it is for the growers 

 to say if any are benefits. 



Pot Trees 



A word in favor of those trees now plunged in the 

 open, subject to the elements, trying to rest in adverse 

 cHmatic conditions. These which occupied so much 

 time and attention through the spring must not be for- 

 gotten now that regular watering and syringing is 

 needed. Do not expect a shower to water these pots as 

 they ought to be watered ; it takes a good rain to do 

 tills and then the foliage above always takes so much 

 off. This must be taken into consideration, and also the 

 mass of roots confined in a small space. Earlier-forced 

 trees, not having the time to make the quantity of roots 

 the latter ones did, will take a little less water. This 

 should be noted in dull weather. By this time the trees 

 will be free of any "live stock" which may have been 

 infesting them at the time they were brought outside 

 but there are the fungus pests. These can in a measure 

 be prevented by timely applications of Bordeaux mix- 

 ture or the preparation Fungine extensively advertised 

 in HoETicui.TUEE. These fungous troubles are the 

 worst things to contend with in peach growing and no 

 "easy street" should be left for them. 



A Gardeners* Friend 



Who is it? No noble creature, elegantly arrayed, a 

 thing of magniti;de and beauty, in this instance. On the 

 contrary, one sometimes hailed with a scream and 

 motion? of retreat from the "fair sex," sometimes carried 

 on a shovel by the "braves" of the greenhouse. Wlio is 

 this insignificant friend with such an introduction? 

 No one else but Mr. Toad. Have you ever watched him 

 making short work of such unwelcome tenants of the 

 greenhouse as sow bugs, crickets, roaches, spiders, 

 eatterpillars and bugs of all discriptions, doing it all 

 with lightening rapidity once he has decided on the 

 stunt? These pests find welcome retreat in many parts 

 of our fniit houses, making it difficult to get at them, 

 yet making their presence known at unwelcome times. 

 Now if one or two of our "friends," as I have described 

 them, can be induced to tenant the houses, it is wonder- 

 ful how fat they will get and how lean (in number) our 

 unwelcome guests liecome. Tlie charges for this work 

 of extermination are as small as they possibly could be 

 and amount to — a little kindness. 



