PACIFIC TREE AND VINE 



The Value of Hothouses 



By S. W. 



So great is the use and inipor 

 tanoe of inex])eiisive hothouses and 

 cold frames in starting e rly vege- 

 tables that no one should be with- 

 out one or more Crops can be pro- 

 tected in these until very late in the 

 fall, and semi-hardy plants can be 

 kept in perfect condition all winter 

 long Where one raises vegetables 

 for early market, hothouses are, of 

 course, absolute necessities, but 

 even the ordinary farmer needs 

 them for his early crops, whether 

 he is engaged in the market-garden- 

 ing business or not. Tomatoes, 

 lettuce, seed onions and scores of 

 other vegetables can be started 

 under glass months b' fore it is pos- 

 sible to plant them outside. 



The hothouse should always be 

 built on the sunny, sheltered side of 

 a hill or building or grove of trees 

 A very slight protection such as 

 these makes a diiTerence of several 

 degrees in cold weather especially 

 when the wind is violent. If there 

 is no such sheltered place a wind- 

 break should be constructed on the 

 north and west side of the sjiot. 

 This can be built by driving posts 

 in the ground, leaving the tops fi\-e 

 or six fe t above the surface. Any 

 loo.se boards, pickets or sticks from 

 the woods nailed cros>wi.se on these 

 posts, and thick brush and twigs 

 attached to them, hold in position 

 packing material lik : straw, corn- 

 stalks or even leaves, furnish a per- 

 fect windbreak, and keep the hot- 

 house or cold frames sheltered all 

 winter. 



The hothouse itself should be 

 built with solid timber that will la.st. 

 Posts eight inches in diameter 

 should be set for the foundation 

 walls. They should run upas high 

 as the walls. Old lumber can be 

 utilized for boarding up outside and 

 inside, leavng a space between the 

 two walls for packing material. 

 This space should be packed late in 

 autumn with good horse manure. 

 The excavation for the floor of the 

 hothouse should be deep enough to 



CHAMBERS 



permit plenty of packing material. 

 There should first be a foot of good 

 warm manure, and over this three 

 or more inches of rich soil for seed 

 bed. The roof of the hothouse 

 should be built with the greatest 

 care. Double sashes are better than 

 single, for then the house is proof 

 against all weather. The edges and 

 sides should be carefully constructed 

 of matched lumber fo that water 

 will be shed. In addition to the 

 glass sash door there should be a 

 covering of heavy unbleached mus- 

 l\n. This should work up and down 

 on a roller so that it can be unrolled 

 and rolled up according to the 

 weather. On very cold days and 

 nights this covering will greatly add 

 to the protection. In addition to 

 this a heavy canvas coveting, or an 

 old sail cloth, thrown over the 

 whole structure in times of heavy 

 storms will make the ho' house prac- 

 tically proof against the coldest 

 weather. Without any further heat 

 than what the manure supplies, the 

 most delicate of seeds and plants 

 will tL rive there in midwinter. 



To Fruit Growers 



Most fruit growers of Santa Clara 

 Valley, and to some extent the 

 fruit growers of the State, know 

 that the Root Borer — commonly 

 called the Peach Root Borer — is 

 more to be feared than any other 

 pest. While many ways of experi- 

 miuating them have been tried, 

 none are known that are satisfac- 

 tory. The Farmers' Club has 

 therefore appointed the undersigned 

 to collect a fund to be paid to the 

 person or person who will devise 

 some way to exterminate this pest 

 with little expense and without in- 

 jurs to the tree The money as 

 donated will be placed in the Trea- 

 surer's hands, S. B. Huiikins, 

 President Garden City Bank and 

 Trnst Co., and we trust that a con- 

 siderable sum will be received, so 



that the efforts to earn the same 

 will be earnest and wide.spread. 



Any sum will l>e received with 

 thanks, but no matter how large au 

 amount you give, if a satisfactory 

 remedy is found you will receive 

 many times the value of your con- 

 tribution. 



To the contestants for this prize 

 we would say that we shall be very 

 exacting and careful in our e.xam- 

 inalion, and shall have to be satis- 

 fied beyond a reasonable doubt that 

 all the conditions are fulfilled before 

 any award will be made. 



The following conditions have 

 been adopted by the Committee : 



No application or remedy will be 

 considered by the Committee until 

 the same has been used satisfactor- 

 ily by a considerable number of 

 growers and endorsed by them. 



The Committee alone shall be the 

 judge of the merits of any remedy, 

 and no aware will be made until the 

 remedy is accepted bv an aflfirma- 

 tive vote of two thirds of the whole 

 Committee, and such vote shall be 

 binding upon each and all persons 

 claiming to have found a remedy. 



The remedy must destroy the 

 borer without injury to the tree, 

 and at a cost not too great to pre- 

 vent its general use, and must be 

 one not having been already com- 

 monly used in Santa Clara \'alley. 

 A parasite will be deemed as a rem- 

 edj- fulfilling the conditions if it 

 exterminates the borer. 



Money contributed -vill be re- 

 turned to the contributors after a 

 reasonable time if not used. 

 S. F. Leib, Chairman. 

 W. P. Lyon, Vice-Chairmau. 

 J. T. Grant. 



Frank Babb, President Farm- 

 ers' Club. 

 S. B. HuNKiNS, Pres. Garden 

 City Bank ^: Trust Co., 

 Treasurer. 

 W. P. Cragin, Secretarv. 



Seedless Watermelons 



How to grow .'^eedk-.S!^ melons with 

 but little additional labor. Full in- 

 forMiation on receipt of One I'ollar. 

 .\iiilre.-i;;, M. (i. Bailev, San .U^fe, Cal- 



