May, 1908 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



107 



duty, which amounts to $1.50, and also 

 about $1.00 a ton for freight. The total 

 cost in Toronto is about $9.00 or $10.00. 

 They are sold for $15.00 a ton. The city 

 salesmen go to the retail stores two or 

 three times a week. 



There is quite a large quantity of cab- 

 bage pitted around Toronto by local 

 growers, but there is no sale for them. 

 One grower recently took a load to Tor- 

 onto, but could not sell them at any 

 price. He had to take them home and 

 feed them to the cows. This should not 

 be, but there will be no change until 

 our Government imposes a duty similar 

 to that of the United States : namely, 

 three cents a head. The United States 

 cabbages are sent to Canada to make the 

 market better in Buffalo, and other cit- 

 ies across the line. 



When the Tariff Commission met in 

 Toronto, in November, 1905, the Hon. 

 Sydney Fisher told me that he could 

 grow turnips on his farm at a cost of 

 six cents a bushel. Perhaps he can, 

 but the man who can make money grow- 

 ing cabbages at $6.00 a ton, should be 

 appointed cup-bearer to the King. 



WHAT TO GROW THIS SPRING 



As spring is here, many market gar- 

 deners are wondering what they should 

 grow. Shall it be those Montreal melons 

 that cost thirty to fifty cents each to 

 grow, and that will sell in Toronto at 

 three melons for twenty-five cents?. I 

 think we had better grow early 

 vegetables, making a point to get them 

 early and good. The city people are en- 

 quiring for Canadian grown asparagus 

 and spinach. 



There should be a lot of early green 

 onions, after all the "stiff-necks" that 

 were left in the ground last fall. There 

 is plenty of money in green onions, if 

 you know the way to get it out of 

 them. 



For spinach and early beets, be sure 

 and have a nice piece of soil, well man- 

 ured and work it well. Keep to the old 

 varieties that you have tested, such as, 

 in beets, Crosby's Egyptian, and Eclipse. 



According to the old saying, "The 

 good follows the bad," onions should 

 do well this year. Sow onions early and 

 be sure to have the soil well worked be- 

 fore sowing. 



I would like to hear how our mush- 

 room growers are getting along. One 

 man not far from Toronto, made quite a 

 success this winter. He said that mush- 

 rooms are selling fast at sixty cents a 

 pound. 



Among the many good things that 

 will appear in the June number of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist, will be arti- 

 cles on growing squashes, on garden 

 salads and garnishes, and on the white 

 fly of greenhouses. 



Pointers on Onion Culture 



Herbert Hachborn, Echo Place, Ontario. 



TO grow onions successfully, the first 

 thing to do is to get the soil properly 

 manured and thoroughly worked. 

 The best method of treating the soil is 

 to spread the manure in the winter or 

 early spring, so that the spring rains can 

 wash the fertilizing elements into the 

 soil. 



It is a mistake to cjiange onion 'ground 

 every year. Onion ground should receive 

 about twenty-five loads of well-rotted 

 barnyard manure to the acre every 

 year; then, by^the end of the second or 

 third year the ground will be in first- 



A Good Commercial Dozen of Celery 

 Grown by Mr. J. H. Copeland, Chilliwaok, B. C. 



class condition for onions. If the 

 ground is changed every year it will not 

 be in such good- condition. I have 

 grown onions on the same piece of 

 ground for the last five years, andhad 

 a better crop last year than ever. 



As soon as the ground is dry enough, 

 plow down the dressing and work it well 

 with a disc or acme harrow, and allow 

 it to stand about a week, then work it 

 again, as this working will kill any weed 

 that may have started. Many growers 

 believe in plowing the ground in the fall, 

 as onions require a hard bottom, but I 

 find that I get just as good a crop by 

 plowing in the spring. Onions arc cul- 

 tivated mostly by hand, and the ground 

 will naturally form a hard bottom. 



It is well to sprinkle a little air-slacked 

 lime and salt on the ground every spring 



or fall, to prevent maggots from work- 

 ing. When sowing the seed, I mixed a 

 little powdered sulphur and salt with it ; 

 this also acts as a preventive against 

 maggots. 



Care should be taken not to^get the 

 ground too rich with nitrogen, as this 

 causes "thick -necks," or scallions. The 

 best thing to do with thick-necks is to 

 bunch andsell them for green onions. 



Celery for Profit 



J. H. Copeland, Chilliwack, B.C. 



The soil for celery should be a deep 

 peat, with plenty of natural moisture. It 

 should be drained to the depth of two and 

 t half feet, so that there will be no stag- 

 nant water lying in the ground. Next 

 break the sod with a good, deep fur- 

 row. Turn it over well in the fall, and 

 disk, and as early as possible the follow- 

 ing spring. Disk it again, and apply 

 about five hundred pounds of some good 

 fertilizer per acre, with about forty bush- 

 els of lime, fifty bushels of wood ashes, 

 and half a ton of salt an acre. Disk it 

 every week till time to plant. 



Sow the seed in an open bed, as soon 

 as the frost is out of the ground in the 

 spring. In peat soil the frost is usually 

 all out by the middle of April. Give ex- 

 tra care in well lifting the soil for the 

 seed bed. Do not cover the seed too 

 deeply. Tramp the soil very firmly with 

 the feet before sowing, and roll after with 

 a hand roller. Do not sow the seed too 

 thick as the plants will be slim if this 

 is done. About one hundred plants per 

 square foot, is a good stand for first- 

 class plants. Keep the plant beds well 

 weeded, so that the plants will be strong 

 and bushy. 



When the plants are about two and 

 a half inches high, start to plant in the 

 field. Set the plants six inches apart in 

 the rows, and have the rows four feet 

 apart. Stretch a line straight across the 

 field, then walk on the line, and you will 

 have a good plain mark to plant by. 

 Make the holes with a pegger. One 

 man can make holes for two or three 

 planters, who should plant 6,000 per man 

 in ten hours. Great care should be taken 

 to press the soil firmly about the roots, 

 and see that the tap root of the plant is 

 straight, or else your plant will be a 

 failure. After planting keep free from 

 weeds and cultivate the same as any oth- 

 er crop of roots till large enough to bank 

 up for blanching. 



There is nothing better for lice on cab- 

 bage than kerosene emulsion. 



No single factor that enters into the 

 production of crops, is more important 

 than good pedigrees in seeds. 



