164 WOKCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



man must work out his own agricultural salvation by learning the 

 secret of success on his farm and under the conditions that sur- 

 round him, with little regard to his neighbor. To no occupation 

 does the truth of the saying that " no man was ever great by 

 imitation," apply with greater force than farming. There is 

 much to be learned by observation and discussion, but experience 

 is the only thorough teacher. 



As I have not learned the mighty secret that would enable all 

 to grow all vegetables to perfection, and thus flood the market at 

 all times, I am free from that harrowing fear that may have 

 possessed some of my predecessors in writing upon this subject, 

 lest they should in an unguarded moment let fall the precious 

 knowledge, for by telling what I guess at can neither hurt my 

 business or help my competitors. The business of growing 

 vegetables for market has become so important and the demands 

 of the people so exacting, that nearly all of the large growers 

 now use greenhouses in wliich many of the choicest summer 

 vegetables are produced in mid - winter. As I have had no 

 experience in this kind of gardening, what I have to say of 

 growing crops under glass, must be confined to hotbeds ; in this 

 the amateur may find some help and the professional will not 

 need it. Every one who grows vegetables for market to any 

 extent, should have glass enough to raise his own plants for the 

 field ; he cannot afford to buy them for two reasons, he can 

 raise nice plants cheaper than he can buy them, and he cannot 

 afford to buy such plants as are usually offered for sale at any 

 price. These plants will do for the family garden, but will not 

 produce a crop early enough to pay the gardener. 



The management of hotbeds is a very exacting business as is 

 the whole of the vegetable business, and demands close attention 

 seven days in the week. The locations of hotbeds may fiice any 

 point from east to south, the frames should be of plank and be 

 put in the ground in the fall, and for the beds that are to be 

 used all winter, the frames should be set into the ground to within 

 four or five inches of the top ; those that will not be used till 

 spring, need not be set into the ground much. For the winter 

 beds the sul)-soil must be taken out to make the bed of sufficient 

 depth for the heat required and the soil to be used for the crops 



