192 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September, 1908 



another season's growth. It is wise, 

 therefore, to use these minerals, as they 

 are called, liberally, so that if the crop's 

 growth is arrested at any time by 

 drought or excessive wet, the plant may 

 find an abundant supply of food and 

 make increased growth when favorable 

 conditions are again established. With 



nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia 

 the case is somewhat different. The 

 most economical plan with regard to 

 nitrate is to apply little and often when 

 the crop is growing. In this way there 

 will be no loss by leaching, and the plant 

 will be -supplied. 



I cannot, in closing, do better than re- 



commend market gardeners to read 

 Voorhees' book on fertilizers, (McMillan 

 & Co.); it will give a great deal of use- 

 ful information. And I would further 

 say that I shall always be pleased to help 

 the market gardeners of Canada at any 

 lime with advice in the compounding 

 and use of fertilizers. 



Growing CaulifloAvcrs for Market 



WHEN the cauliflowers begin to 

 form, they should be well water- 

 ed and tied by going through 

 every day. They should be tied loosely 

 with a string about two-thirds of the 

 way up. Do not tie until the flower be- 



George Syme, Jr., Carleton West, Ontario 



packed in boxes. Cover carefully to pro- 

 tect from the air. 



The most profitable cauliflowers to 

 grow are the intermediate ones, coming 

 in between the early and late varieties. 

 They are the most difficult to secure. 



A Field of Cauliflower Ready for Tying 



Two plants in foreground marked with crosses litive l)een tied. Farm of Geo. Syme & Son, Carleton West, Ont 



comes visible. Tying too early or too 

 tightly will destroy the flower. The 

 leaves should be pulled together just 

 enough to shield the flower ; if too tight 

 they become blanched at the top and, 

 with the first shower runs in and destroys 

 the flowers. Do not :dlow the flower to 

 get too large or too old as it is much 

 better to have a small, solid flower than 

 a large, open one. In this way much 

 better results will be had as the flowers 

 will hold up much longer after being 

 cut. When cutting cauliflowers, they 

 should be pulled carefully in rows and 

 hauled io a shed before trimming, where 

 they should be trimmed, sorted, and 



and being planted at a time when insect 

 pests are most troublesome, it is almost 

 impossible to grow them on ordinary 

 cauliflower soil. The best varieties are 

 Early Snow Ball and Early Erfurt. The 

 soil best adapted to this crop is a damp 

 clay loam, rather inclined to be stiff. The 

 plants should be sown in a cold frame 

 about the first of April. Sow rather 

 thinly. Leave the frames on until the 

 seedlings begin to show through the soil, 

 then air them by lifting the frame al- 

 ternately at each end with a chip to stop 

 damping-off, which is very prevalent at 

 that season of the year. When the 

 plants are a fair size remove the frames 



altogether, leaving the plants to become 

 hardened. 



When setting in the field, plant in rows 

 thirty inches apart, and from eighteen 

 to thirty inches in the rows. When the 

 plants are in, do not cultivate too much 

 at first as it is better to leave the soil a 

 little stiff as the insects cannot work to 

 such good advantage. At the end of 

 June or the beginning of July, when the 

 plants become well rooted, get the culti- 

 vator to work. Cultivate deeply and 

 often until your land is rolling before the 

 cultivator like a bed of ashes. When a 

 plant dies or becomes destroyed by in- 

 sects or "buttoning-up," keep planting. 

 In this way you will have a crop coming 

 in, one after the other all season, besides 

 always having your ground occupied. 



The soil should be prepared in the fall, 

 being well manured with good barnyard 

 manure. This land should be well ridg- 

 ed so that no surface water stays on it 

 during the winter or early spring. An 

 application of lime and salt put on after 

 plowing and harrowing, helps mater- 

 ially. 



Bleaching Celery 



T. Benstead, Strathroy, Ont. 



For bleaching early celery, I use 

 boards one foot wide and sixteen feet 

 long. I wire through from one side to 

 the other. If the boards are put up 

 straightly, they will not warp. As L cal- 

 culate about four dozen and a half of 

 celery to each sixteen feet, I know just 

 how many boards to remove when T in- 

 tend to ship. 



For bleaching with muck, which con- 

 stitutes my celery soil, I start about 

 September 20. I throw up some muck 

 with a Planet Junior cultivator, and fin- 

 ish the operation by using a bush scrap- 

 er, with a man on each side of the row. 

 It takes three weeks to bleach with • 

 muck. If the muck is not allowed to dry . 

 on the stalks, it will wash off easily. ' 

 This must be done as soon as the celery 

 is taken up. 



Vegetable gardeners are requested to i 

 contribute articles for publication. Tell 

 your experience in growing crops for 

 market, and send some photographs. 



