2 INTRODUCTORY SUGGESTIONS. 



tions should suggest lines of work, and should explain and 

 enforce the fundamental reasons for the various operations ; 

 but the directions are not to be rigidly and perfunctorily 

 applied to the particular work in hand. The reader must 

 check up the printed instructions with his own experiences. 

 Persons who succeed in the growing of fruits and vege- 

 tables in the field do not necessarily succeed with crops 

 under glass. Success out of doors is often the result of 

 favorable conditions of soil and weather ; but under glass 

 the grower must not only know the conditions which the 

 plants require, but he must actually create those conditions. 

 The skill of the horticulturist lies in his ability to override 

 difficulties. Leonard Coates, a well-known horticulturist 

 of California, has recently put this truth into an aphorism : 

 "Let the conditions be adverse, and his measure of suc- 

 cess will prove the man." 



The person who desires to grow vegetables under glass 

 for market must, first of all, count up the costs and the risks. 

 Glass houses are expensive, and they demand constant 

 attention to repairs. They are short-lived. The humid at- 

 mosphere and the high temperature engender decay. The 

 heating is the largest single item of outlay in maintaining 

 the establishment. Moreover, it is an item upon which it is 

 impossible to economize by means of reducing the tem- 

 perature, for a reduction of temperature means delayed 

 maturity of the crop and, in the case of warmth-loving 

 plants like cucumbers, melons and tomatoes it invites 

 debility and disease. Labor is the second great item of 

 expense in maintaining a forcing establishment This 

 however, may be economized if the proprietor is willing 

 o lengthen his own hours ; but economy which proceeds 

 o far that each one of the plants does not receive the 

 very best of care, is ruinous in the end. 



The risks in the forcing of vegetables are great. In the 



test place, there are risks of accidents, as fire, frosts and 



uul. There are risks of serious insect and fungous inva- 



5ns. But, above all, there are risks arising from lack of 



