Managing a Greenhouse for Profits 



ONE of the pioneer market garden- 

 ers of Nova Scotia is Mr. H. 

 Loomer, of Falmouth, Hants Co. 

 Eighteen years ago Mr. Loomer made 

 a start in gardening by purchasing 

 thirty-six acres, most of which at the 

 time was rough land. His total initial 

 capital was just seven hundred dollars. 



For upwards of twelve years no exten- 

 sive greenhouse work was attempted ; 

 cold frames and hotbeds only were used 

 to get a longer growing season. No 

 attempt was made at first to grow any- 

 thing out of the ordinary line of market 

 vegetables. The nearby town of Wind- 

 sor was the nearest market, and a large 

 part of the truck Mr. Loomer sold by 

 going from house to house with his 

 team. But gradually the market was 

 enlarged, until to-day shipments are 

 made to most large towns of the province. 



Over five ye)ars ago Mr. Loomer's 

 trade had reached considerable propor- 

 tions, although he had as yet made no 

 attempt to grow vegetables out of sea- 

 son on a large scale. By early starting 

 and careful methods he got his produce 

 on the market before the general crops 

 came on and thus obtained the top price. 

 But Mr. Loomer believed in the possi- 

 bilities of growing vegetables under glass 

 and backed up his belief by erecting a 

 one hundred and fifty by thirty foot 

 greenhouse. Year by year the plant has 

 been increased, until now there is about 

 fifty thousand feet of glass. When 

 visited by an editor of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist early in July, one hundred 

 dollars' worth of products were being 

 shipped out every day; the annual out- 

 put is over ten thousand dollars. 



During July the chief greenhouse 

 crops are cucumbers and tomatoes. From 

 a half-acre of glass Mr. Loomer turns 

 off an average of one thousand cucum- 

 bers a day for a period of two months. 

 Greenhouse lettuce, radish, and spinach 

 are over by that time. By the first of 

 August, when the outdoor stuff is com- 

 ing on, the greenhouse crop is about 

 done. The vines are cleaned out arid 

 manure is spread four to five inches 

 deep. This manure is kept watered 

 down till September when a team is 

 taken into the greenhouses and the man- 

 ure is plowed under. This is the .only 

 dressing of manure that the ground re- 

 ceives during the year. Successive crops 

 receive applications of commercial fer- 

 tilizers. 



Towards the middle of September the 

 first sowings of lettuce, radish and spin- 

 ' ;tch are made. Lettuce is sown thick in 

 one of the houses and then transplanted 

 to some of the others. The first cut is 

 made in November and continued sow- 

 ings give a supply through the winter. 



Sowings of cucumber are made from 

 January first to the end of February. 

 Previous .sowings of lettuce are made 

 with a vacant row every seven feet, and 

 this row is sown to cucumbers. At 

 other times the cucumbers are placed 

 seven feet apart, with two rows of beets 

 between and a row of radish or lettuce 

 between each row of beets. Cucumbers 

 are sown fifteen inches apart in the 

 rows. The vines are trained on upright 

 trellises to a height of six or seven feet 

 and then overhead on setting. The 

 laterals are pruned at the second bud, 

 leaving two fruits to each branch. A 

 hive of bees is kept in each house to en- 

 sure the setting of the fruit. 



Mr. Loomer's favorite variety is a 

 cross that he has himself made between 

 two varieties — Rawson's Hothouse and 

 Granite State. From this cross he has 

 made continual selection and has a splen- 

 did cucumber of medium length. 



The spring tomato crop is sown in 

 December and January. Four or five 

 transplantings are made before bearing. 

 The final settings are in rows two and 

 one-half feet apart, with sixteen to 

 eighteen inches between plants. The 

 vines are trained upright on a string and 

 pruned to single stem leaders. The me- 

 thod of pruning for fruit is practically 

 the same as the Potter system, as de- 

 scribed in the July Horticulturist. Bees 

 fly in the tomato houses during the win- 

 ter and a satisfactory set of fruit is ob- 

 tained. The bees are fed sugar syrups 

 at that time. 



During the winter and early spring, 

 celery, lettuce, beets, cabbages, toma- 

 toes, cucumbers and squash are all start- 

 ed in the greenhouse for early planting 

 out of doors. These come on the mar- 

 ket early and bring the top price. Irri- 



gation has been found necessary to bring 

 transplanted lettuce along nicely. The 

 Skinner system of irrigation is used. 

 The best possible use is made of the 

 land ; between the rows of early vege- 

 tables late celery is sown. 



About the first of June celery is sown 

 out of doors, where it remains till Octo- 

 ber. It is then brought into the greenr 

 house and marketed at Christmas time; 

 it gets a good growth before much heat 

 is needed in the houses. 



In one small house tomato seed is 

 sown about June 15 and cucumber seed 

 at August 15. These are turned off for 

 the fall trade. The tomatoes are sown 

 earlier because the fruit does not set 

 well during the dark days of late fall. 

 For spring planting Mr. Ivoomer uses 

 the Bonny Bess variety but prefers the 

 -Stone for fall planting. The former does 

 not color well in the greenhouse during 

 winter. Grand Rapids is his favorite 

 variety of lettuce for the greenhouse, as 

 it is about the only one that will stand 

 as much heflt as the cucumbers. It must 

 be well supplied with water. 



There is something of the supernatural 

 about Mr. Loomer's water supply. He 

 spent several thousand dollars boring 

 artesian wells in order to locate a suffi- 

 cient flow of water, but without suc- 

 cess. A lady visiting at his home not 

 long ago remarked that she could locate 

 water with a forked apple branch. Mr. 

 Loomer was quite willing to let her try, 

 so they went out to see if water could be 

 found. After a while his friend indicat- 

 ed where she thought there might be 

 \\ater. Men were set to work, and at a 

 depth of ten feet a supply of water was 

 found that a gasoline engine, pumping 

 forty gallons a minute, cannot drain in 

 a day. 



Interior of one of the Greenhouses of Mr. H. Loomer, Falmouth, N. S. 



(See aooompanyincr article.) 

 IQS 



