6 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS. 



It is possible to grow any vegetable under glass, but it 

 is only those products of a perishable nature which can be 

 expected to yield any degree of profit. Those, also, which 

 require a very long season in which to mature, and which 

 yield a small amount of product such as beets, car- 

 rots, spinach, peas are of little importance for forcing. 

 The Lima beans require a too long season, and they 

 are chiefly consumed in the dry state ; but the com- 

 mon "string" beans are a good forcing crop. There 

 are special reasons why some other vegetables are not 

 forced with profit. Cauliflower, for example, is a most 

 satisfactory crop to grow under glass, but the best heads 

 of the late fall crop are so easily kept through the winter in 

 cold storage as to almost despoil the market for the forced 

 product. Spinach was once forced in cheap houses and in 

 hotbeds and coldframes, but the southern-grown spinach 

 now reaches the market in perfect condition from the holi- 

 days until spring. Radishes are more popular in spring 

 than in midwinter but the demand for them in early 

 spring is met more by hotbed-grown roots than by a house- 

 grown product. The forcing of celery is practically un- 

 known, having been made a success, apparently, only in 

 an experimental way. Eggplants require a long season 

 and much heat and care, and the demand for them is slight 

 in winter. The regular season of the vegetable is long, 

 beginning with those from the Gulf states and ending with 

 the October and even November fruits of the north. The 

 pepino is little known, either to growers or to the market. 

 Winter peppers used for the making of "stuffed pep- 

 pers" are in limited demand, and they are readily shipped 

 in from the south. Winter muskmelons are an exceed- 

 ingly fancy product, and very difficult to grow with good 

 flavor, so the price must be very high to enable them to 

 yield a profit. Squashes and marrows can be grown in 

 glass houses, but the plants require much room, and the 

 product has small commercial value. 



The near future will no doubt see many new departures 



