The Canadian Horticulturist. 59 



FORCING VEGETABLES. 



The hot beds are prepared in Xovember. The site should be one well 

 drained, and if it has a gentle slope to the south or south-east it will be better. 

 A tight board fence, six and one-half feet high, and slanting one foot toward the 

 north, should be built along the north side of the range. The land south of the 

 fence should be enriched with fine manui-e, or chemical fertilizer ; harrowed 

 until thoroughly fine, and so graded that the surface shall slope a little from the 

 fence, but be nearly level from east to west. The plank for the sides should be 

 of pine, spruce or cypress : that for the north side 2x12 inches, and for the 

 south, 2 X 10 inches. The former is set two feet from the fence, and held in 

 place by stakes driven into the ground outside the plank, then nailed to them. 

 The plank on the south side must be set exactly six feet, outside measure, from 

 that on the north side, and so adjusted as to be about four or five inches lower 

 than the other : that is sufficient for drainage. Braces will be needed every ten 

 feet to keep the planks from springing. Earth should be banked against the 

 outside of the plank to within five inches of the top, and before the ground 

 freezes the whole should be covered with straw, coarse hay or coarse manure, to 

 prevent freezing until the bed is required for use. When that time comes the 

 covering is removed, and the soil thrown out to the depth necessary- to accom- 

 modate the required " heat " (hot dung) and soil, and leave room for the plants 

 under the glass. The " heat" varies from six to fourteen inches deep, and the 

 loam from six to eight inches, according to crop and season. 



The greenhouses now devoted to these purposes are built, some of them, 

 fifty feet wide and four hundred feet long ; the roofs have a pitch of twenty to 

 twenty-five degrees, and the ridge is twenty feet above the beds. The materials 

 now preferred for roofs are cypress wood sash-bars, supported by iron-pipe posts, 

 and covered with 18 x 24 inch plates of glass. 



The vegetables forced for market are the following, which are named in 

 the order of importance : Lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, dandelions, beets and 

 beet greens, parsley, mint, and cress. Mushrooms are also largely forced, but 

 not under glass : dark pits being used for this purpose. lettuce is by far most 

 largely grown and used. Most establishments produce two or three crops each 

 winter ; followed by a crop of cucumbers. The immensely increased annual 

 demand has fully equalled the supply until this season, when the general 

 depression of business and consequent decrease of incomes among those who 

 usually have bought these delicacies, together with the unusually good supply 

 from Southern growers, has forced the prices below the cost of production. 

 But this is a temporary condition ; already the reaction has set in, and probably 

 the near future will bring an equivalent return. Prices may not again average 

 as high as in the past, and it is not desirable that they should. Nothing con- 

 tributes so surely to the health of a family as a liberal use of fresh-grown salads, 



