January, 1912 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



It 



A Sample of What Western Canada Can Do in the Growing of Vegetables. 



These vegetablee art' the product of one hill of pumpkin. They weiahed 630 lbs. and were 

 grown by Kd. Sanderson of Dauphin, Man. 



St. Thomas, that he had succeeded in 

 placing near St. Thomas some splendid 

 men from the old land. One of these men 

 claimed that near where he left in the 

 Old Country there were many good men 

 who would be glad to come to Canada 

 were they interviewed by some one whom 

 they knew. Mr. Robb wanted to know 

 if there were any way in which the St. 

 Thomas branch of the vegetable grow- 

 ers' association could arrange to send an 

 agent to Great Britain acting in conjunc- 



tion with the Canadian Government to 

 bring out such help. 



Attention was called by President 

 Thomas Delworth to the fact that it is 

 important that growers should so ar- 

 range fheir work that they will be able 

 to keep men by the year. Mr, Rush 

 maintained that many of the immigrants 

 who at first appear to be incapable might 

 develop into good men were they given 

 more sympathetic treatment by their em- 

 ployers. 



Results From Use of Fertilizer 



Wm. H. Taylor, 



THE potato crop having been almost 

 a failure last fall, I believe you 

 would be glad to give your readers 

 the results of my endeavors to overcome 

 the unfavorable conditions of the season ; 

 also the different results from certain fer- 

 tilizers for this crop. My land is clay 

 loam. It was under buckwheat last year. 

 As soon as the buckwheat had started, I 

 spread a light dressing of barnyard man- 

 ure, — hor.se, cow and hog, — as if I want- 

 ed a crop of buckwheat, and ploughed 

 the whole down when it was about two 

 . inches high. I divided the field into 

 three parts. Plot number one was not 

 fertilized. Plot number two was fertiliz- 

 ed at the rate of two hundred pounds 

 sulphate of potash, four hundred pounds 

 acid phosphate and one hundred and 

 twenty pounds of nitrate of soda per acre. 

 The whole field was well harrowed and 

 planted to Sensation potatoes. Number 

 three plot was fed at the rate of four run- 

 dred pounds of acid phosphate and one 

 hundred pounds nitrate of soda an acre. 



The first two weeks the weather was 

 splendid, but our first rain was not until 

 July 1 8th, followed by many days when 

 the temperature ranged from ninety-six 



St. Giles, Que. 



to one hundred and four degrees in the 

 shade, and from one hundred and eight 

 to one hundred and thirty degrees in the 

 sun. To prevent too great evaporation 

 I kept the cultivator and hoe going near- 

 ly all the time. VVe got a few light rains 

 in August — our hopes revived, things 

 looked well ; but on the night of August 

 thirty-first, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, 

 corn, and so forth, were killed to the 

 ground. The potatoes were certainly not 

 more than half grown. However, I feel 

 that God rewarded my persistence and 

 courage, as the following results seem to 

 show : 



Plot number one, which received a 

 light dressing of manure only, yielded at 

 the rate of one hundred and ninety-four 

 bushels. 



Plot number two produced two hun- 

 dred and forty-two bushels. 



Plot number three two hundred and 

 four bushels. 



The latter plot gave twelve bushels 

 more than plot number one, and plot 

 number two gave forty-eight bushels 

 more than number one. This means in 

 the one case an increase of value at 

 seventy-five cents per bushel (they are 



going up fast and will be at least one 

 dollar in the spring) of nine dollars, and 

 in plot number two, forty-eight bushels 

 at seventy-five cents, gives an increase of 

 thirty-six dollars. 



All up to date farmers will admit that 

 the constant surface cultivation did a 

 great deal of good, but will they give any 

 credit to the green buckwheat ploughed 

 in? I do. 



Vegetable Jots 



Asparagus grows readily from seed. 

 One ounce is sufficient for about fifty feet 

 of drill. 



It is time to begin planning the garden 

 for next summer. Select your seeds and 

 order early. 



Peppers need a rich sandy loam and 

 frequent cultivation. — G. Bremner, Bur- 

 lington, Ont. 



In bleaching celery, care must be tak- 

 en not to have more of the early crop 

 boarded in than will be sold within two 

 weeks. It is better to have it green when 

 marketing it than to have it over-bleach- 

 ed. — George Smye. 



Tomato seed should be sown in the 

 frame about ten weeks before it is safe 

 to set the plants in the open ground. As 

 soon as they are large enough to handle 

 set them out two inches apart in anothc- 

 frame and as they grow stronger trans- 

 plant again at four inches. This pro- 

 duces short stocky plants. Every time 

 they are moved increases the chance for 

 earliness. 



Our tests of vegetables have proven very 

 interesting. We now have in progress 

 tests of thirty-three early and thirty-four 

 late varieties. Some are probably new 

 to a considerable portion of the public, 

 and have merit, while a large proportion 

 appear to be well known varieties under 

 a different name, and frequently the 

 name is made up of a number of descrip- 

 tive adjectives which are misleading. I 

 have distinct recollection of one variety 

 in our test that is being sold under four 

 names. Work of this kind is unfortun- 

 ate, and something should be done to 

 straighten out the jumble of meaning- 

 less names and place them on a basis 

 that is reasonably accurate and reason- 

 ably scientific. — Prof. C. E. Myers, State 

 College, Pa. 



The Only Way for an old countryman 

 to make a success of vegetable-growing 

 in Canada is to work for someone in the 

 business for a year or two. He will have 

 practically to forget all he knew, and to 

 begin at the bottom of the ladder, for the 

 climate, customs of the country, manner 

 of growing, and marketing, are all differ- 

 ent to the conditions in the Old Country. 

 After he has gained that experience he 

 will require capital of from $500 to $1000, 

 according to the amount of land he 

 wishes to work, to enable him to make a 

 good start. — F. F. Reeves, Humber Bay, 

 Ont. 



