84 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



April, igoR 



vator was run between the rows and then 

 a light dressing of fresh gas lime was 

 broadcasted over the field. The gas lime 

 is not a practical remedy to recommend 

 because. a supply is not always available, 

 but if you happen to be near gas works 

 and can get it, it is a very good thing to 

 use. Gas lirtie is useful because the 

 strong odor it gives off drives away the 

 flies and the ammonia in the lime makes 

 it a strong fertilizer. It must be used 

 with caution for if a lump lies up against 

 the plant, it will burn it. About twenty 

 bushels to the acre was used in this in- 

 st:uice and care was taken to sprinkle it 

 between the rows. To clean land, 200 

 bushels an acre might be put on in the 

 autumn and plowed under in the spring. 

 If gas lime when fresh comes up against 

 the roots, it will destroy them. 



CHEESE CLOTH TENTS 



A method of growing radishes and 

 cauliflowers which has been used with 

 success lately is that of covering the 

 plants over with a cheese cloth tent or 

 enclosure. Where it is done on a small 

 area, it has given very good results, but 

 the lack of light is the chief objection. 

 With cauliflowers, it gives excellent re- 

 sults, but with onions, it is not so suc- 

 cessful. In amateur gardens, I have 

 seen beautiful cauliflowers grown under 

 covers small enough to be movea by 

 hand, where none at all could be grown 

 in the open. The covers were six feet 

 long, three feet wide and two feet high. 

 They were removed after sundown to hoe 

 the plants and then replaced. The flies 

 which lay the eggs from which the mag- 

 gots come for most part, work in hot 

 sunshine. 



SULPHATE OF IRON 



A sulphate of iron solution, one pound 

 to the gallon of water, poured around the 

 roots of cauliflowers and cabbages, also 

 gave good results. The experiment will 

 be repeated next season. 



Planting Potatoes 



H. A. Blunden, Sarnia, Ontario. 



The potato will grow in almost any 

 soil of ordinary fertility, but for an 

 even-sized, marketable and edible tuber 

 a well-drained, sandy loam is the best. 

 The soil is best prepared in either of 

 the following ways, namely, by manur- 

 ing with well-rotted stable manure or 

 by plowing under a crop of clover. If 

 the former method is adopted the land 

 should be plowed the previous autumn, 

 and th^ manure evenly distributed at 

 the rate of from ten to twelve tons to 

 the acre, the following spring. After 

 the manure is spread the land should 

 be thoroughly worked with a disc harrow 

 and then with a smoothing harrow so. as 

 to thoroughly incorporate the manure 

 with the soil. For the latter method 

 the best way is to plow under the crop 



of clover in the spring as early as the 

 land can be worked, followed by discing 

 so as to break up the clover sod into as 

 small particles as possible. 



PLANTING 



The seed should be cut the desired 

 size and planted as soon as possible to 

 avoid drying.. If planting by machine 

 it can be set so as to plant any desired 

 distance in the row as well as between 

 the rows, as well as the depth of planting, 

 which should be about three inches in 

 loose soil. Forhand plan ting the handiest 

 wav is to take a heavy corn marker so as 

 to mark the rows from thirty to thirty- 

 six inches apart and about three inches 

 deep, planting the seed or sets from ten 

 to fourteen inches apart in the rows 



the pot plants were stunted, while the 

 others were kept growing with no 

 check. For the benefit of those readers 

 of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 who, like myself, work only a few acres 

 in mixed gardening and whose patches 

 of tomatoes consist of only a few 

 hundred plants, I will give a few facts 

 from my experience. 



Fourteen years ago I purchased 200 

 six- inch pots, and planted them with 

 tomato plants in a rough greenhouse, 

 placing the pots as close together as I 

 could. When the plants met, I placed' 

 the pots farther apart, so as to give at 

 least ten inches for each plant. I plant- 

 ed also the same number of plants in 

 hotbeds. 



A Exceptionally Heavy Growth of Potatoes 



Grown las'. Season on truck farm of Mr. A. W. Shuter, liracondale, Ont. 



according to fertility of the soil. The 

 rows of seed should be covered with a 

 double mould board plow so as to 

 leave the soil in a high ridge over each 

 row. Cultivate throughout the season 

 to keep the soil loose and to keep down 

 weeds. 



Growing Tomatoes in Pots 



S. B. Curtis, Toronto. 



In the course of an excellent address 

 delivered by Mr. R. H. Lewis, of Ham- 

 ilton, at a recent meeting of the 

 Toronto branch of the Ontario Vegetable 

 Growers' Association, he mentioned 

 the experience of one of his neighbors, 

 who had experimented with starting 

 tomato plants in pots (four-inch, I 

 think), with the result that they were 

 two weeks later than those grown in 

 hotbeds. The reason given was that 



On June 2, I planted the whole lot of 

 400 in the field. They were all gooil 

 plants out of the same seed-bed, tin 

 ojily difference being in treatment of 

 same. The pot plants had numerous 

 stems as high as the main stem, whik 

 the hotbed plants had only a good main. 

 . They were planted side by side, two^ 

 rows of each. A rapid growth set in 

 with the result that I gathered tomatoes j 

 for fully four weeks from the pot 1 

 plants, and sold by the pound, before I> 

 had anything worth mentioning from 

 the hotbed plants. 



The conclusion that I came to is 

 that in small pots the roots soon becotiu 

 clogged, with little to* feed upon, aiul 

 become stunted, whereas in larger pots, 

 they are not punished to the same 

 extent. However, I would not advise 

 the use of pots to any great extent. 



(roiitinuoil on page 93) 



