240 



MISCELLANEOUS WARM PLANTS. 



price), the grower ought to be able to make his ex- 

 penses; and if he secures more, as he often can, the 

 growing of them should be fairly remunerative ; but he 

 will likely find that the peppers which are shipped in 

 from the south nearly all winter are most unwelcome 

 competitors in the general market. A plant should bear 

 half a dozen good fruits, which it can do if well grown 

 and if the fruits are picked just as soon as they are 

 fit for market. 



In winter, about three and a half months are required 

 from the seed to the first saleable fruit, but the plants 

 need not be on the 

 benches more than half 

 or two-thirds of that 

 time. They are usually 

 started in flats, pricked 

 off into 3-inch pots and 

 turned out of these pots 

 (when in the condition 

 shown in Fig. 86) di- 

 rectly into the bench. 

 In one of our experi- 

 ments, seeds of the Sweet 

 Mountain were sown July 

 20, plants put into pots 

 August 28, set in the 

 86. Pepper plant ready to transplant, bench September 14, and 

 gave the first picking 



(one fruit to the plant) on October 21. They require 

 a longer time than this later in the season. A bench 

 3 feet wide will grow two rows of peppers, the plants 

 standing a foot apart in the row. Earlier results can 

 be secured by growing the giants in 6-inch pots, but the 

 crop will generally be less 'and the fruits smaller. We 

 think that peppers like an intermediate temperature, 

 a little cooler than for melons, although we have had 

 good results in growing them along the edge of a bench 



