June, 1914 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



155 



Cultivating Strawberries on Mr. Walker's Farm. Mr. Walker and his Hired Man are Shown 



I 



plant will keep more moist and alive 

 when lying down than when standing 

 up, in which f)osition it often wilts from 

 the fierce heat of the sun. The plants are 

 set four feet apart each way and culti- 

 vated continually until they become too 

 large to allow a cultivator to pass through 

 without injury. At least twenty loads of 

 manure are applied per acre previous to 

 plowing and this in addition to the por- 

 tion given to each individual plant brings 

 the total up to twenty-five loads, which 

 is as much as some one hundred and six- 

 ty acre farms get in grain growing sec- 

 tions. Great care is taken to select 

 strong, healthy, well advanced plants, 

 before the early fall frosts. Chalk's Jew- 

 el and Matchless are the varieties grown. 

 The tomatoes are picked in bushel 

 crates and drawn on wagons to the fac- 

 tory, a quarter of a mile away, the price 

 being thirty-five cents per sixty pounds. 

 The first few that get ripe bring a much 

 better price, from a dollar and a half up 

 to two dollars and seventy-five cents for 

 an eleven quart basket. These tomatoes 

 go direct to the cities to satisfy the early 

 tomatoe hunger of those who are rich 

 enough to pay the price. 



AN EARLY VARIETY 



Mr. Walker is constantly obtaining 

 new ideas which improve on his past 

 attempts. For instance he struggled 

 along for years trying to perfect an early 

 tomato plant, which would be certain to 

 mature before the fall frosts, and while 

 he has greatly improved on the old orig- 

 inal, he still loses from one to four hun- 

 dred bushels per acre from frost. With 

 the idea of saving this he started to ex- 

 periment with different coverings to be 

 put over the plants in the spring to save 

 them from the late frosts and to enable 

 him to get the plants in earlier. The 

 main difficulty was to get something in- 

 expensive. After various experiments 

 he has decided on cheese cloth bells on 

 wire frames which can be manufactured 

 for about four cents apiece, and which 

 may earn their cost several times over 

 the first season. 



During 1913 the receipts were nearly 

 twenty-five hundred dollars net, not in- 

 cluding the amount received from plant 

 sales in the spring, which amounted to 

 over six hundred dollars. 



Tomatoes Under Glass 



In the annual report of the Central 

 Experimental Farm, Ottawa, for 1912, 

 the results of a variety test of tomatoes 

 in a small greenhouse at the Central Ex- 

 perimental Farm were recorded. During 

 1913, eighteen varieties and strains were 

 again tested in the same house. This 

 house is used for ornamental plants as 

 well, and only part of the space was 

 available for the tomato plants. The 

 plants were set fifteen inches apart in a 

 single row on the benches on each side 

 of a central walk, sufficiently far back so 

 that a row of begonias could be grown 

 in front of them. As they grew, the 

 plants were tied to wires and kept prun- 

 ed to single stems. Four plants of each 

 variety were used, two plants of each 

 variety being on each side of the walk 

 opposite each other. The seed was sown 

 on June 12, 1912, germinated on June 

 18, the young plants were pricked out in 

 a cold frame on June 24, and planted in 

 the greenhouse on July 24. 



The plants made rapid growth and the 

 first ripe fruit was picked on September 

 16 from Sparks Earliana No. 10 strain. 

 Early in the season, the plants produced 

 large clusters of flowers, the fruit set 

 well, and there were prospects of a good 

 crop, but, during the months of August 

 and September, there was much rain and 

 dull weather, there being 99.9 hours less 

 sunshine than the average during Au- 

 gust, and 108.0 hours less than the 

 average during September. As a result 

 there was a poor setting of fruit during 

 September. By the end of that month 

 the plants had reached the top of the 

 house and, as there was practically no 

 fruit on them except near the bottom, it 

 was decided, as an experiment, to head 

 them back to within three feet of the soil. 

 This was done on September 28. 



Most of the plants, though checked 



severely, recovered from the effects of 

 the heading-back and made medium 

 growth again. On the new growth some 

 moderately good fruit set, but the results 

 obtained from such severe checking of 

 the plants were not such as to warrant 

 recommending it, as the different varie- 

 ties did not recover equally well from the 

 heading-back. 



The yields obtained in 1912-13 are not 

 reliable, but, as indicating the varieties 

 which are likely to give the largest yields 

 in an unfavorable season, and under such 

 treatment, the following record is given 

 of the six most productive sorts, the var- 

 ieties tested being Winter Beauty, In- 

 dustry O.A.C. Selected 1910, Industry 

 O.A.C. Selected 1910-11, Improved Ex- 

 press, Sutton's Satisfaction, Sparks Ear- 

 liana No. 10, Bonny Best, Sparks Ear- 

 liana (C.E.F 2-12), Chalk's Early 

 Jewel, Debbie's Champion, Dominion 

 bay, Wealthy, Sutton's Ai, XXX Ear- 

 liest Scarlet, Cox's Earliest, Greater Bal- 

 timore, Livingston's Globe. 



Last year, in a test of twenty-one var- 

 ieties and strains, the most productive 

 six in order of yield were Industry 

 (O.A.C. Selected 1910), Sutton's Satis- 

 faction, Industry (O.A.C. Selected 

 1910-11), Livingston's Globe, Dobbie's 

 Champion, and Bonny Best. It will thus 

 be seen that the three varieties which did 

 best for the two years were Industry, 

 Sutton's Satisfaction, and Bonny Best. 



Potato Scab 



Prof. E. M. Straight 



If the soil on a certain area is free of 

 scab, it may be kept so by paying pro- 

 per attention to the seed, bags, baskets, 

 'barrows, plows, planters, cultivators — 

 all of which may carry contagion, if 

 they have been in contact with diseased 

 tubers. 



One of the cheapest and simplest di- 

 infecting agents is formalin. Formalin 

 is a liquid, having a sharp, pungent 

 odor. It is a solution of formaldehyde 

 ggs, containing about forty per cent. 

 Formalin should cost about forty cents 

 a pint. 



The formula commonly used is as fol- 

 lows : Add one-half pint of commercial 

 formalin to fifteen gallons of water, 

 stir thoroughly and soak uncut tubers 

 for two hours in this solution. 



Growing Melons. — The most suitable 

 soil for melons is a rich, warm, deep, 

 sandy loam, having a southern or south- 

 western exposure. The latter is to be 

 preferred, as it gets the last rays of the 

 sun and the soil is thus warmed up for 

 the night, and being sheltered from the 

 northern and eastern winds, holds the 

 warmth until the morning. This makes 

 several days' difference in the ripening 

 of the fruit, which may be equivalent to 

 quite a sum per acre in the value of the 

 crop. — John Gall, Inglewood, Ont. 



