REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON VEGETABLES. 69 



April 3. To W. C. Strong, for very fine specimens of early 



Potatoes, (grown under glass,) Bi-esee's. 

 King of the Earlies, and Climax. 



April 10. " George Hill, for White Spine Cucumbers. 



Every year is witnessing great improvement in the cultivation of 

 early vegetables under glass, by the mai'ket gardeners in this vicinity. 

 It is a business in which they are, at the present time, largely and profit- 

 ably engaged, and we will venture to say that no better vegetables, 

 forced or otherwise, are grown in any State in the Union, than are pro- 

 duced within a radius of ten or twelve miles about Boston. A large 

 amount of capital is here employed, and immense quantities of glass 

 used, some single establishments requiring the aid of not less than from 

 twelve to fifteen hundred sashes to carr}^ on this business of winter 

 forcing. 



With their out door crops great care is exercised by these cultivators 

 in the necessary preparation of the soil, and the importance of high 

 culture is not only understood but is successfully carried out. Stable 

 manure, in liberal quantities, is the article emploj-ed as a fertilizer ; it is 

 always reliable, and not so easily adulterated as some of the commercial 

 manures. It is, also, the agent employed for producing the necessary 

 heat required in the forcing of early vegetables. To such as have long 

 ranges of glass, the annual cost of this material alone is an important 

 item, to say nothing of the labor required in handling and the additional 

 expense of transportation. 



Alread)'' many of our most enterprising market gardeners, with a 

 view of reducing, in a great measure, this yearly expenditure of time 

 and money, are erecting, by way of experiment, ranges of forcing 

 houses, on the ridge and furrow plan, seventy-five to a hundred feet in 

 length, and from twelve to fourteen feet wide, heated with hot water. 

 Several of these houses have, within the past two years, been in opera- 

 tion for forcing lettuce, cucumbers, &c., and are considered a success. 



The Chairman of your committee lately had the pleasure of visiting 

 a range of houses of this description, erected the past autumn, which 

 are filled, at the present time (Dec. 22d), with a fine crop of Lettuce and 

 Radishes nearly ready for market. To such persons as have the advan- 

 tages of a side hill, with a southern exposure, the style of houses lately 

 erected by Mr. W. C. Strong possess many advantages and appear to 

 be admirably adapted for this purpose. 



In view of the interest manifested by cultivators in this matter, and 

 deeming it a move in the right direction, your committee would sug- 

 gest, as a matter worthy of the consideration of the Society, that a suit- 

 able premium be offered for the best constructed and most economically 

 managed bouse, which shall, after a trial of three years, be found best 

 adapted for this purpose. 



