M.irch, 1914. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



69 



Vegetable Growers are Rapidiy Discarding the Old in Favor of the Modern Styles of Greenhouse Construction 



These houses are the Lord & Burnham Construction. Toronto, Oni. 



J 



taken about the middle of November. It 

 was a good average crop. 



Some people would have you think 

 that the growing of tomatoes under glass 

 was just about like going into a mint 

 and helping yourself to gold coin with 

 no restriction. My opinion is that they 

 will know more about it after they have 

 had a little experience. I know several 

 growers who have been getting some of 

 that experience this past winter. Their 

 gross receipts will not pay for the fuel 

 consumed, let alone any of the other ex- 



penses. It has been said by one inex- 

 perienced grower that he would be quite 

 safe in saying that it would not cost more 

 than ten cents a plant to produce a crop. 

 Most winters it would cost that for fuel 

 alone. It costs four to five cents a pound 

 after the fruit is ripe, to pick and pack it, 

 and deliver it at the express office, saying 

 nothing of the abundance of work re- 

 quired to bring a crop up to that stage. 

 There is good reason, therefore, for 

 warning the would-be tomato grower un 

 der glass not to be misled. 



Results Obtained fron\ Potato Seed Selection 



W. E. Turner, Duval, Sask. 



I COMMENCED during the fall of 

 1909, when harvesting my Irish 

 cobbler potatoes, to select the best 

 roots for planting the next year by dig- 

 ging carefully and keeping each root sep- 

 arate. I then went over the plot and 

 picked out the most productive roots of 

 uniform quality. These I stored in a 

 large box in the cellar, to be planted in 

 the spring of 1910 as a special seed plot. 



I selected again from this special plot 

 in the fall of 1910 in the same manner, 

 but during the summer of 191 1 I saw 

 the annual report of the Canadian Seed 

 Growers' Association and I found that the 

 Association had a much better system of 

 selection, so I sent for full particulars 

 and rules and when digging in the fall 

 of 191 1, selected twenty-two of the most 

 productive roots and stored each root sep- 

 arate in compartments in boxes. 



In the spring of 1912 I .selected apiece 

 of land that was uniform throughout, 

 using no manure, and planted whole, 

 eight of the best potatoes of each of the.se 

 roots in a separate row, numbering each 

 row. Of cour.se I expected to find some 

 improvement, but I had no idea the im- 

 provement would be so great. When 

 digging in 191 2 I kept each row and root 

 separate and then by counting the pota- 



toes found the most productive rows. 

 The best row had an average of twenty- 

 one potatoes per root, the worst row only 

 thirteen per root. This is where the ad- 

 vantage of planting the pro- 

 duct of each root in a separate row is 

 found. One can see which row has the 

 best pedigree. In this special seed plot 

 there were eight roots with twenty-five 

 or more potatoes per root, one root hav- 

 ing twenty-nine. I selected again twen- 

 ty-seven of the best roots from the most 

 productive rows, keeping each root sep- 

 arate as before, and the remainder of 

 this plot was put in a special bin for the 

 improved seed plot of 1913. 



The special seed plot of twenty-seven 

 rows was planted as before. Eight of 

 the best potatoes were planted whole per 

 row. These were planted on land that 

 had been cropped five times since it had 

 been broken, so I sprinkled a quart of 

 hen manure around each root just as they 

 were coming through the surface. Al- 

 though the season was too dry for the 

 best results the most productive row av- 

 eraged twenty-five potatoes per root, and 

 the worst was eighteen per root. 



In this special seed plot there were 

 thirty-five roots with twenty-five or more 

 potatoes per root, one root having forty. 



Although the season was not as good as 

 1 91 2 for high production, this shows an 

 improvement on the 191 2 crop. Here 

 again is shown the importance of pedi- 

 gree. The three best rows were from 

 the most productive row of 1912. I do 

 not expect to make much more improve- 

 ment but by careful selection each year 

 under the Canadian Seed Growers' Asso- 

 ciation rules I hope to keep the strain at 

 least as good as it is now. In view 

 of the satisfactory results obtained with 

 the Irish Cobbler, I have commenced to 

 select the Rochester Rose, Wee McGreg- 

 or and Ashleaf Kidney potatoes on the 

 same plan. 



Growing Ginseng in Ontario 



Dr. H. F. HacKendrick, Gait, Ont. 



A few years ago I commenced grow- 

 ing ginseng. The root is the part that 

 brings the money, and at present the 

 grade of roots grown in Canada are 

 bringing the highest price in the open 

 market, being much finer grained and 

 firmer than those grown farther south. 



Plant your seeds in September or Oc- 

 tober, and they will come up in the fol- 

 lowing spring. Put them in a well drain- 

 ed piece of garden, sandy loam, or any 

 well drained good soil will do, and you 

 will be surprised at the progress of your 

 crop. By raising your own seeds and 

 planting them, each three year old plant 

 will produce about fifty seeds, a four 

 year old about seventy-five seeds and a 

 five year old plant about one hundred 

 seeds, so that quick reproduction may 

 be attained and suflficient seed for sow- 

 ing purposes may be acquired. This fact 

 if often brought forward as an argument 

 against the growing of ginseng, but to 

 prove the fallacy we have only to consider 

 that it takes ten years to produce a crop 

 of apples, which in past years have also 

 remn'red constant attention and its con- 

 sequent expense. 



