436 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



roots and a small crop of fruit would result. 

 Careful stringing and continual trimming 

 gives fruit in greater quantity and better 

 quality. 



"The Green Fly and mildew are very trou- 

 blesome in forcing tomatoes. Fumigation 

 with tobacco keeps the former in check, but 

 there seems to be no cure for mildew if it 

 becomes established. Sulphur will check 

 its spread, but the main thing is to keep the 

 plants dry and maintain a free circulation 

 of air. W'ater should never be used unless 



the sun is shining brightly. I always make 

 it a point to do the watering in the morning. 

 If the weather is cloudy no harm will be 

 done to the plants if they are left for four 

 or five days at a time. 



" If the beds are well attended to and the 

 weeds kept down the fruit will ripen by 

 Christmas or earlier. There is always a 

 brisk demand from the holiday season until 

 April, but in May and June the market is 

 flooded with the ci;op grown outside in the 

 United States." 



Keeping Potatoes 



MARKET gardeners will be anxious 

 to learn some of the methods 

 adopted by Air, Wm. Naismith, of Falken- 

 burg, who has won first prize for collection 

 of potatoes at the Toronto exhibition for 14 

 years in succession. Mr. Naismith went 

 into Aluskoka years ago to clear a plot of 

 ground on which to make a living. As the 

 land is specially adapted to the growing of 

 roots he has gone into that line extensively. 

 Particular attention has been given to pota- 

 to growing and he has originated some new 

 varieties. His success is due in a gre.it 

 measure to the care given to the selection of 

 seed. His method of storing is inexpen- 

 sive, and the potatoes always come out in 

 fine condition in the spring. 



" When digging my potatoes," remarked 

 Mr. Naismith, " I always select those speci- 

 mens which come near to my ideal for size 

 and shape. These are kept for seed the 

 following spring. This is the best and sur- 

 est way of raising the standard. 



" The potatoes are always stored in pits, 

 or, perhaps, better called dig-outs. By put- 

 ting the pit in the south side of a bank, 

 about 25 bags in a pit, very little covering 

 is needed. I put up a frame work to keep 

 the dirt away from the potatoes. The pit 

 is filled to within about one foot of the ceil- 

 insf. Then six inches of hav or straw is 



put on to take up what moisture comes from 

 the potatoes. The six inches of straw and 

 six inches of air space along with a foot of 

 earth prevents any injury from frost. I 

 have always used this storage and have firtt- 

 class seed in the spring. The potatoes 

 never sprout and remain perfectly solid." 



Cauliflowers Do Not Keep 



'' f ^ HE cauliflower, though commonly 

 V. grown in Canada, is not usually 

 stored with success. Though belonging 

 to the same class of plants as the cabbage, 

 it is very much less hardy and is very sensi- 

 tive to adverse conditions. The crop 

 ripens very irregularly and frequently a 

 large percentage remains immature when 

 frosts come. 



Some growers recommend digging up the 

 plants and putting them in cold frames until 

 they mature. This, however, means much 

 work and few growers care to go to the 

 trouble. In ordinary storage mature heads 

 do not keep longer than Christmas, and in 

 most cases those that are not disposed of be- 

 fore then are lost. 



" I stored cauliflower only once to make 

 any profit," said Mr. Jas. Dandridge, of 

 Humber Bay, to The Horticulturist a short 

 time ago. " That time they were pulled be- 

 fore frosts came and stored in a long pit. 

 I dug a trench about 18 inches wide and 



