PREFACE. 



experimental work in the forcing of vegetables during 

 the past few years, and he has endeavored to see 

 much of the forcing industry of the country. In this 

 time there has been a great accumulation of informa- 

 tion and of notes which, since there is no adequate 

 literature upon the subject, he has now set down in 

 these pages. The book has been written for the com- 

 mercial grower of winter vegetables, but the writer will 

 be glad if it shall lead anyone to make the effort to 

 grow the vegetables for his own table. The very ob- 

 stacles which one must overcome make the effort all 

 the more worth the while ; and the satisfaction of 

 growing a garden when the snow lies deep against the 

 house is of the keenest and most unselfish kind. 



The American writing upon vegetable-forcing is very 

 recent. I have referred to most of it at various places 

 in the text. It only remains to say that the basis of 

 much of this book is the series of publications from 

 the Cornell Experiment Station ; and it is justice that 

 I add a list of these papers. This list will also aid 

 the student in tracing the bibliography of the literature 

 of the forcing of plants. The Cornell bulletins upon 

 the forcing of vegetables in glass houses (some of 

 which are permanently out of print) are these: No. 28, 

 Experiments in the Forcing of Tomatoes, June, 1891 ; 

 No. 30, Some Preliminary Studies of the Influence of 

 the Electric Arc Light upon Greenhouse Plants, August, 

 1891 ; No. 31, Forcing of English Cucumbers, Septem- 

 ber, 1891 ; No. 41, On the Comparative Merits of Steam 

 and Hot Water for Greenhouse Heating, August, 1892 ; 

 No. 42, Second Report upon Electro-Horticulture, Sep- 

 (vi) 



