2 . INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS, 
tions should suggest lines of work, and should explain and 
enforce the fundamental reasons for the various operations ; 
but the directions are not to be rigidly and perfunctorily 
applied to the particular work in hand. The reader must 
check up the printed instructions with his own experiences. 
Persons who succeed in the growing of fruits and vege- 
tables in the field do not necessarily succeed with crops 
under glass. Success out of doors is often the result of 
favorable conditions of soil and weather; but under glass 
the grower must not only know the conditions which the 
plants require, but he must actually create those conditions. 
The skill of the horticulturist lies in his ability to override 
difficulties. Leonard Coates, a well-known horticulturist 
of California, has recently put this truth into an aphorism: 
‘“Let the conditions be adverse, and his measure of suc- 
cess will prove the man.” 
The person who desires to grow vegetables under glass 
for market must, first of all, count up the costs and the risks. 
Glass houses are expensive, and they demand constant 
attention to repairs. They are short-lived. The humid at- 
mosphere and the high temperature engender decay. The 
heating is the largest single item of outlay in maintaining 
the establishment. Moreover, it is an item upon which it is 
impossible to economize by means of reducing the tem- 
perature, for a reduction of temperature means delayed 
maturity of the crop and, in the case of warmth-loving 
plants —like cucumbers, melons and tomatoes — it invites 
debility and disease. Labor is the second great item of 
expense in maintaining a forcing establishment. This, 
however, may be economized if the proprietor is willing 
to lengthen his own hours; but economy which proceeds 
so far that each one of the plants does not receive the 
very best of care, is ruinous in the end. 
The risks in the forcing of vegetables are great. In the 
first place, there are risks of accidents, as fire, frosts and 
hail. There are risks of serious insect and fungous inva- 
sions. But, above all, there are risks arising from lack of 
