2l8 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



October, 1908 



made three or four small leaves at the 

 joints of the old stems. If the young 

 roots have well started, each plant may 

 be potted singly in a mixture of half sand 

 and half potting soil. Use three-inch 

 pots. The time for this change usually 

 conies late in January or early in Feb- 

 ruary. Two months after, re-pot in 

 good potting soil in pots two sizes 

 larger. 



Another method of treating old geran- 

 ium plants, recommended by Mr. Wm. 

 Hunt, of the Ontario Agricultural Col- 

 lege, is to put the boxes or pots with 

 the plants treated as already described, 

 in the cellar or Jaasement at once instead 

 of growing them on. If this method is 

 adopted, the sand must be kept much 

 drier as the plants must not be allowed 

 to start into growth until February or 

 March. When that time comes, pot 

 them in sand and place them in the win- 

 dow as recommended for the other 

 method. 



FALL CARE OF VEGETABLES 



When the tops of asparagus are suf- 

 ficiently dried so that they can be broken 

 down by a rake, gather and burn them. 

 Give the surface of the bed a top-dress- 

 ing of well-rotted stable manure which 

 should be worked into the soil this fall. 

 Manure left on the surface until spring 

 will prevent early growth. 



Take up some parsley roots from the 

 garden and grow them in a box or pot 

 in a more or less shady place, not too 

 warm. This will give a winter supply. 



In some localities, radish and lettuce 

 may be had for Christmas by sowing the 

 seed in a mild hot bed. Protect them 

 against heavy frosts or freezing. 



Bank up the winter celery. Most of it 

 should be stored by the end of the month. 



Pull and store cabbage and dig beets, 

 carrots, parsnips and such crops, and at 

 once put them in the cellar. Some par- 

 snips and salsify may be left in the 

 ground for digging in the spring. 



The old rhubarb patch may be re- 

 newed * by digging the roots, dividing 

 them and starting a new plantation. 

 Some roots should be left on the surface 

 of the ground or placed in a cold frame 

 until well frozen. Later, place these in 

 the cellar on the floor or in a barrel 

 where they will produce stalks for winter 

 use. 



Start a mushroom bed this fall. Look 

 up back issues of The Canadian Horti- 

 culturist for information. Another ar- 

 ticle will appear in an early issue. 



Clean up the vegetable garden and 

 burn all rubbish. Apply a dressing of 

 manure and dig or plow it in. Re- 

 arrange the location of the crops for next 

 year. A rotation of crops always gives 

 best results. Grow shallow-rooted plants 

 next year where deep-rooted ones were. 

 This is only one of the factors to be 

 considered. An article on this subject 

 will be published soon. 



IT IS doubtful whether tomato forcing 

 as a distinct business can be profitably 

 conducted in Canada. They can often 

 be profitably worked in, however, as a 

 spring, crop, after some of the commonly 

 grown greenhouse crops are past their 

 best. It was with this thought in mind 

 that work with tomatoes under glass has 

 been taken up at the Macdonald College. 

 For much of the data presented in this 

 paper, I am indebted to my former as- 

 sistant, Prof. V. R. Gardner, now hor- 

 ticulturist of the Maine State College, 

 and especially to our efficient greenhouse 

 manager, Mr. A. H. Walker. 



The winter forcing of tomatoes is 

 much more difficult than the spring forc- 

 ing. The tomato loves light and heat 

 and to ripen its fruit during the dark 

 days of midwinter, when sunlight is not 

 only scarce but not strong enough to 

 clear the glass of its heavy coating of 

 frost, is no easy proposition. For this 

 reason it is doubtful to what extent win- 

 ter forcing can be carried on. This point 

 we aim to work out and experiments 

 to that end are now in progress. Our 

 first planting was made into permanent 

 beds in August, hoping to have our fruit 

 well formed by December, depending 

 largely upon heat alone for ripening. 

 This phase of the question, however, is 

 not the purpose of this paper, and there- 

 fore the spring forcing problem and how 

 it can be worked to follow other crops is 

 what I wish especially to deal with. 



•Portion of a paper read at the oonrention of the 

 Canadian Horticultural Association held at Niagara 

 Falls, Ont., in Aug\ist. It will be continued in next 



iSHU*. 



Forcing Tomatoes' 



W. S. Blair, Macdonald College 



Our houses are of the King construc- 

 tion, twenty-one and one-h?If feet span, 

 seven feet to the gutter. The plants 

 should have four and one-half to five feet 

 of head room, at least ; therefore, the crop 

 cannot be worked into some low houses 

 profitably. Our houses run east and 

 west. We have a four-span house. These 

 houses are divided by a glass partition, 

 and a walk runs cross-wise of the house, 

 with glass partititions at each side. We 

 have in all four thirty-eight feet and four 

 fifty-eight feet houses each under con- 

 trol. Briefly our aim is to develop crops 

 on a commercial scale in these houses, 

 and at the same time work out problems 

 similar to the one under discussion. 



The soil used for tomatoes was made 

 up of a medium light loam sod, piled in 

 summer, into which one-quarter its bulk 

 of stable manure was put, and the whole 

 cut down and mixed before putting into 

 the benches. The soil in the benches 

 was six inches deep. 



STARTING the PLANTS 



The plants for house No. one were 

 started from seed sown September 16, 

 into flats. These were pricked off into 

 three and one-half inch pots three weeks 

 later, and carried in these pots to Nov- 

 ember 22, or nine weeks, when they were 

 set into the permanent bed, being about 

 twelve inches high at that time. 



The plants for house No. two were 

 started December 15, in flats, and prick- 

 ed off a month later into three and one- 

 half inch pots, and on February 20 were 

 again shifted to five-inch pots, and set 

 into benches March 12. The plants at 



that time were eighteen inches high. It 

 will be seen that these plants were car- 

 ried three months before benching. It 

 is safe to say, therefore, that the period 

 between sowing the seed and pricking 

 off will be from three to four weeks. The 

 plants can then be carried in three and 

 one-half inch pots from four to five 

 weeks, but if a longer period is required 

 a shift to a five-inch pot is necessary in 

 order to keep the plant growing and 

 healthy. It is also well to bear in mind 

 that while it is possible to carry a plant 

 in a three and one-half inch pot during 

 the early part of the winter, yet owing 

 to a much more rapid growth towards 

 spring, this would be impossible without 

 stunting the plant. In no case is it ad- 

 visable to carry the plants longer than 

 three months before benching. 



the fruiting period 



Plants set in benches in No. one 

 house on November 22, gave their first 

 ripe fruit the middle of March. The time 

 required for the plants to come into fruit- 

 ing was 113 days. These continued in 

 fruit until the middle of May, or seventy- 

 one days. Those set in benches in No. 

 two house on March 12, gave their first ' 

 fruit on May 12, or in sixty-one days, 

 and continued in fruit till the end of July, •. 

 a period of seventy-seven days. It will t 

 be seen that the plants occupied the 

 benches in No. one house about fifty-two 

 days longer than those in No. two house, 

 before comirfg into fruiting. The fruit- 

 ing period was of about the same dur.i- 

 tion in both houses. Allowing, there- 

 fore, that the plants set in house No. one 



