November, 1908 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



243 



phere is better kept moist, but a dry at- 

 losphere is the best for aiding in pollin- 

 . ion, and preventing rot. The leaves 

 of the tomato plant are better, and more 

 healthy if not syringed at all. 



As already stated, tomatoes require a 

 dry warm atmosphere to facilitate pol- 

 lination. The pollen is shed freely dur- 

 ing the middle of bright days, and it is at 

 this time that the plants require hand 

 pollination. This point is a very impor- 

 tant one, especially in northern districts, 

 and unless considerable attention is giv- 

 en to it, the profits from the crop will 

 not amount to much. Various devices 

 are used for doing this work but we 

 found a rabbit's tail, tied to a short 

 stick, the best. With this one can go 

 over the plants very rapidly and as the 

 fruits were all regular and marketable, 

 this device evidently is one that we can 

 safely recommend for pollinating the 

 plants. 



MARKETING 



The bulk of our fruit was sold on com- 

 mission in Montreal. They were shipped 

 i.i three- and four-pound till boxes, four 

 boxes to a crate. This we found to be 

 the best method for handling this fancy 

 fruit, and all plants grown in green- 

 houses should produce fancy stock. The 

 three-pound till boxes are the most con- 

 venient. The crates are made the depth 

 cf the till boxes and three three-inch slats 

 put across top and bottom. 



INSECTS 



The white fly is the most difficult in- 

 sect to deal with. To control it, we 

 confine ourselves entirely to the use of 

 hydrocyanic acid gas. This fly when 

 disturbed, will fly around the plant and 

 usually return to the same plant. On ex- 

 amination of the under side of a leaf, you 

 notice what appear to be eggs, but on 

 closer examination with a glass you will 

 find that part only are eggs and part are 

 nymphs. ' It takes about thirteen days 

 for the eggs to hatch into nymphs, and 

 when hatched, they move over the under 

 surface of the leaf for a short time and 

 then insert their beaks into the tissue of 

 the leaf, taking on somewhat»the appear- 

 ance of a scale. These turn into the 

 adult white fly in about five weeks time. 

 This insect, owing to its sucking mouth 

 parts, cannot be controlled by poison 

 placed on the foliage, and you all know 

 that fumigation with tobacco does very 

 little good. We found that one ounce of 

 potassium cyanide to 2,000 cubic feet 

 was quite effective in getting rid of the 

 fly. Of course the tightnes.s of the house 

 and the kind of night may make it neces- 

 sary to use one ounce to 1,800 cubic feet, 

 or even stronger. This gas is made ac- 

 cording to the following formula: One 

 ounce of high-grade cyanide of potas- 

 sium, (ninety to ninety-five per cent.); 

 '>ne ounce (by measure) of commercial sul- 



phuric acid ; four ounces (by measure) of 

 water. 



For information as to how best to use 

 this material, I would advise you to look 

 up The Canadian Florist, issues of 

 June 10 and July 3. In any case do not 

 use this gas without first becoming fa- 

 miliar with its nature. It is a deadly gas 

 and must be handled with care. 



I have already stated that in order to 

 run in tomatoes after carnations and 

 violets it is necessary to sacrifice the lat- 

 ter part of these crops. As a general 

 rule, the market demand for violets and 

 car?iations is not brisk after Easter and, 

 therefore, we think it possible in many 

 cases to discard part of these crops in 

 favor of tomatoes. In no case do we 

 think it advisable to bench tomatoes 

 later than the latter part of March ; in 

 fact, I would sa\-not later than the mid- 



working over the soil and handling the 

 plants. This is not ajarge job. In com- 

 parison with floral plants the tomato is 

 not an expensive one to handle. 



It is also a possible practice and one 

 followed by some growers to plant in the 

 carnation bench by simply removing a 

 plant or two where the tomato is to be 

 set and working up only a small area 

 of soil for this purpose,, thus getting 

 some crop of the remaining carnations 

 while the tomatoes are making their 

 early growth. This, however, I would 

 not advise. I do riot think that there is 

 any material gain by such a practice. 

 The plant does not get as good a start, 

 you cannot work over the soil in such a 

 thorough and expeditious manner, and 

 the carnations obtained do not compen- 

 sate for injury sustained through work- 

 ing out the carnation plants later on. 





^.■^■r■A■ 



i^ 



M 





A Thontand Tomato Plants ii 



Establishment of Clias. 



die of March, for the reason that the 

 fruit comes into competition with south- 

 ern grown tomatoes which are so plenti- 

 fully put upon the market during June 

 and July, and also with our own out- 

 side grown tomatoes after the middle 

 of July. We are always sure of getting 

 a better price for the greenhouse stock, 

 but even so the prices drop materially 

 after the middle of July, as is indicated 

 by the returns from house No. 2, as 

 given. 



It is wise, also, to have the plants well 

 advanced for benching, for in this way 

 the crop is brought into fruiting much 

 earlier. Our tomato house returned us 

 42.72 cents per square foot from March 

 12 to July 29. This we think is a good 

 .showing and much in advance of any 

 returns that could be had from violets 

 or carnations. You have, of course, the 

 expense of cleaning out the other crop. 



I An Ontario Forcing Houie 



Darvell, Lambton Mills 



Whether the spring forcing of toma- 

 toes can be followed profitably or not, 

 depends upon the particular line followed 

 by the grower. He often can work in 

 certain lines at this season of the year 

 to supply a special trade, such as bed- 

 ding-out stock for instance, and possibly 

 in some cases do better, but I am con- 

 vinced that in a great many cases the 

 forcing of tomatoes can be followed to 

 much greater profit. 



Results similar to those given here 

 can be obtained by any florist or garden- 

 er under glass. The plants in this ex- 

 periment were given only average treat- 

 ment, for as we aim to run our houses 

 along commercial lines, we cannot af- 

 ford to do anything except what the av- 

 erage grower would find it necessary to 

 do. 



We obtained only the wholesale prices 

 and did not cater to ;t special trade. We 

 could have obtained higher prices by 



