Forcing Vegetables for MarKet 



J. L. Hilborn, Leamington, Ontario 



A BRIEF description of our forcing 

 houses may be of interest, as they 

 are constructed differently to any 

 I have seen. The main building is 42 x 

 100 feet, and has cement walls about 

 two feet high. The boiler room, 16 x 20 

 feet, is made of the same material. 



The roof consists of three even spans, 

 resting upon valleys that are of suffi- 

 cient height to allow one to walk erect 

 in the paths which are about 15 inches 

 below the top of the beds. There is an 

 additional row of rafters on either side, 

 extending from the outside wall up- 

 wards at half pitch to the first valley. 



At intervals of 8 or 10 feet on both of 

 these lean-to spans, we have well-con- 

 structed doors. These consist of a 

 strong frame, made of three specially 

 cut sash-bars, which are bolted to an 

 angle-iron at both ends and properly 

 braced . The outer sash-bars are grooved 

 at the outside bottom comers, so as to 

 fit tightly upon the rafters beneath. 

 When these doors are closed the roof is 

 as warm as if it were solid. The door 

 frames are designed to carry two rows 

 of 16 X 16-inch heavy glass. 



Doors of this kind are very useful in 

 a vegetable forcing house. They not 

 only make easy the operations of taking 

 in soil and fertilizers and of removing 

 plants, but they also are valuable for 

 ventilating later in the season, when 

 ordinary ventilators do not furnish 

 sufficient ventilation for best results. 



All rafters in the house are made of 

 cypress. They were well painted be- 

 fore erection. The foot of each is sep- 

 arated from the valley timber by a strip 

 of galvanized iron. This prevents the 

 woods coming together and causing de- 

 cay at this the most perishable part of 

 a greenhouse. 



CROPS GROWN 



We undertook to grow lettuce through 

 last winter, and to bring along sufficient 

 cucumber and tomato plants to plant 

 the house in early spring. As we were 

 late in getting started, and as we did 

 not have a sufficient number of lettuce 

 plants to properly fill the house until 

 late in the season, we did not realize 

 much profit on the crop. One must 

 thoroughly understand the business and 

 have favorable conditions to realize 

 profit from growing lettuce in mid- 

 winter. 



It was impossible to keep any part of 

 the house warm enough to properly 

 bring along the tomato and cucumber 

 plants in midwinter. Fairly good plants 

 were secured but, when ready for bench- 

 ing, it was too late. 



For the spring crop, less than one- 

 third of the house was planted with 

 tomatoes; the balance with cucumbers. 



We began to bench the cucumbers early 

 in April and concluded the work as soon 

 as time and material permitted. 



TRAINING THE VINES 



For a number of years, we trained 

 our cucumber vines to a trellis made of 

 binder twine and supported by stakes. 

 While good results were obtained, yet it 

 was not satisfactory. The trellis had 

 to be constructed each season and much 

 tying of the vines was necessary. 



This season, we constructed a trellis 

 that has proved more satisfactory. It 

 is made of wire. From The Page Wire 

 and Fence Co., of Walkerville, Ont., we 

 ordered a quantity of light gauge wire 

 for the horizontal runs and a sufficient 

 number of coiled bobbins to weave these 

 into an eight-inch mesh. This made an 

 excellent trellis. At the end of the sea- 

 son we loosened the supports, rolled up 



were blooming well and setting fruit. 

 Most of them had been grown in four- 

 inch pots and were considerably pot- 

 bound. This is an advantage, as it 

 tends to hasten fruitfulness. 



The plants were set 13 x 17 inches 

 apart and tied to a string or stake. They 

 were trained to single stems. 



When the plants had reached a height 

 of about four feet and contained four 

 or five clusters of fruit, they were 

 pinched back. Side branches were clip- 

 ped off. The leaves also were clipped 

 back to admit more light and a better 

 circulation of air among the plants. 



The plants blossomed profusely; al- 

 most every blossom set and developed 

 nice, smooth fruit. The majority were 

 of marketable size and sold readily. 

 Had the crop been earlier, probably 

 better prices would have been realized. 



The beds for both cucumbers and to- 



The Forcing Houses of Mr. J. L. Hilborn, Leamington, Ontario 



the wire and stored it for future use. 

 It can' be put up quickly when wanted 

 again. 



TOMATOES 



About the middle of April, the tomato 

 plants were ready to bench. At that 

 time we had large stocky plants, that 



matoes were fertilized with well-rotted 

 manure and bone meal. About the 

 time the harvesting of the fruits began, 

 both crops were mulched with manure. 

 The varieties of tomatoes that have 

 done best are, in order named : Best of 

 All, Frogniore and Lorillard. 



S^veet Potato C\ilt\ire 



p. G. neyes, Ottc 



I HAD long held the opinion that 

 Ottawa was within the sweet potato 

 belt ; so, last spring, wishing to put my 

 theory to the test, I consulted numerous 

 catalogs with a view to obtaining the 

 necessary plants. I was unable to find 

 what I wanted offered in any Canadian 

 catalog then in my possession, so was 

 compelled to go to the United States for 

 stock. It seems to me a want of enter- 

 prise on the part of our seedsmen that 

 they do not catalog these plants. I 

 placed a small order with a well-known 



Boston firm and received the plants 

 about May 20. As last spring was un- 

 usually cold and backward in this lo- 

 cality, I put the plants in pots and kept 

 them under glass until all danger of 

 frost had passed, removing them to the 

 garden during the first week in June. 

 Not a plant failed to grow. By the 

 middle of July they had taken entire 

 possession of the ground. 



Owing to the drought that prevailed 

 in this part of Canada during the past 

 summer I was obliged to water the plant" 



