October, 1908 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



219 



could have been carried two weeks long- 

 er by shifting into a five-inch pot, it 

 still would have been necessary to carry 

 these plants five weeks longer in benches 

 in order to get ripe fruit during March 

 and April than to secure fruit in house 

 No. two during May and June. The fol- 

 lowing table will assist somewhat in 

 making this point clear : 



wall. The bench in the central part of 

 the house is wide enough to take in seven 

 rows of plants. The sides are solid and 

 only ten inches high. This bench is sup- 

 plied with good drainage material at the 

 bottom. The same depth of soil was 

 used in this as in the other benches used. 

 The table in the next column gives the av- 

 erage yield of fruit per plant from rows 



FIRST END OF FRUIT- 



FRUIT RIPE ING PERIOD 

 Mar. 15 May 25 



May 12 July 29 



DISTANCE APART 



The plants in house No. one were set 

 diagonally in rows twelve inches apart, 

 and fourteen inches apart in the rows. 

 This would bring the plants about four- 

 teen inches apart each way. House No. 

 two was set diagonally in rows fifteen 

 inches apart and twenty-two inches apart 

 in the row, bringing the plants about 

 eighteen inches apart each way, which 

 distance is the one generally recom- 

 mended. 



THE YIELD 



The yield of ripe Yruit from these 

 houses and the cash returns for fruit 

 sold for each of the two weeks is as fol- 

 lows : 



located at different positions in this 

 house. 



Harvesting Potatoes 



H. A. Blnnden, Sarnia, Ont. 



Potato harvesting operations are gov- 

 erned entirely by what the crop is in- 

 tended for — whether for early or late 

 market. For early market, the potatoes 

 should be dug, as soon as they are a 

 good size, with a four-tined potato fork, 

 or one of the well-known potato diggers. 

 No more should be dug at a time than 

 can be safely marketed, at the latest, the 

 following day. There is no vegetable 

 that will deteriorate in quality and re- 

 duce in price so quickly as an early pota- 



The following table gives the area in 

 plants and the average yield per plant 

 and per square foot : 



to. Late or main crop potatoes in On- 

 tario should be harvested by October 

 15th of each year. 



DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE HOIJSE 



The plants in house No. one occupied 

 the central part of the house, and were 

 on a raised bench. In house No. two 

 a raised bench, taking three rows of 

 plants, extended along the south, west, 

 and north side. The south side bench is 

 next to a glass partition, the west and 

 north benches extend along the outer 



STORING 



In storing potatoes whether for family 

 use, future market, or seed, the grower 

 is entirely governed by circumstances. 

 The handiest method is by putting in 

 bins in a dry, cool cellar, before severe 

 frosts .set in. If cellar room is not avail- 

 able, the best of all tried methods is to 

 put the potatoes in light, wooden boxes 



or barrels, holding from five to ten bush- 

 els each, nailing on a cover so as not to 

 press on the potatoes. Place the boxes 

 in rows on an elevated piece of ground, 

 and cover them on top and sides with a 

 good layer of dry straw, followed by 

 about six inches of earth. Before the 

 severe frosts of winter set in, cover 

 again with stable manure. This last 

 operation will have to be done according 

 to the grower's own judgment. Too 

 much manure might injure the potatoes 

 by heating. 



The raised benches in this house gave 

 an average yield per plant of 78 ounces 

 and the centre bench an average of 90 

 ounces per plant. These two benches 

 came into fruiting about the same time and 

 the quantity of fruit picked to July i aver- 

 aged approximately the same per plant on 

 the ground bench as on the raised bench, 

 but the plants continued fruiting longer on 

 the centre bench, due, no doubt, to having 

 more head room than those on the side 

 benches. « 



About Ginseng 



J. E. Janelle, Caugbnawaga, Qne. 

 There is a great demand for dry gin- 

 seng, and it is almost universally used 

 by Asiatics. It is claimed by American 

 consuls in China that that country alone 

 would import $30,000,000 worth of gin- 

 seng roots a year, if she could get it. 

 All Chinamen use it, either as a tea or 

 ground into powder, and mixed with 

 their food, the same as we do with 

 pepper. 



This plant and the proper method of 

 its culture, has been kept a secret by 

 many interested growers and "wild root 

 diggers"; but to-day large growers sell 

 seeds and plants to intending begin- 

 ners, and give them a culturist guide 

 with every sale. These have only to fol- 

 low the instructions contained in this 

 booklet if they want to succeed. 



Tell the story of your success in gar- 

 dening to the readers of The Canadian 

 HoRTici i.Ti RisT by contributing a letter 

 for publication. 



