Grow^ing Vegetables for the Early Market' 



WIv start the first tomato plants 

 about March 1, and we like to 

 prick them out often. As soon as they 

 have four leaves on we prick them out 

 again. You can get a better rooted plant 

 by firming the soil ; we transplant three 

 times, and often four. We keep them 

 in flats." 



Mr. McMeans: — "You never trans- 

 plant them into cold frames?" 



Answer. — "No, after they get a pretty 

 good size, if they run up too much, we 

 turn them down. We use shallow flats; 

 the majority of our flats are four, and 

 four and a half inches deep, and we only 

 fill them half full the first planting, and 

 after that we use more. The last plant- 

 ing we cut the earth out and take out a 

 chunk of earth with the plant; and we 

 have veneer, cut four inches wide, the 

 length of the tray. One of these strips 

 of veneer is placed in the centre of the 

 tray, and two across, and that leaves a 

 space four inches square, and we plant 

 one in each space, and wiien we pull the 

 partitions out it leaves the soil ready 

 to lift out with the root. We have that 

 square of earth with the roots all about 

 it, and the plant gets practically no 

 checking. We wet them just before 

 going to field. It they grow stalky it is 

 well to bury them down and bend them 

 over. 'Spark's Earliana' are grown for 

 the majority of the crop." 



A Member:— "A great many of them 

 split." 



Answer. — "We do not find that with 

 us." 



A Member :— "I grow 'Atlantic Prize.' 

 They are not very large but I get early 

 crops and a smooth fruit. They are a 

 little thin-skinned, and will not stand 

 shipping as well as others." 



Mr. Rush:— "Do you find that a 

 round tomato is better for shipping 

 than a flat one?" - i , 



Answer. — "Yes, I believe it is" better 

 and firmer. " 



A Member: — "Have 

 'Chalk's Early Jewel?" 



Answer.— "Yes, I tried it a few years 

 ago. It is very fine looking, but with 

 us it is two weeks late. The ' Plentiful ' 

 is grown in our district to some extent." 



Mr. Robinson:— "They had a great 

 rot in the centre this year. Last year 

 we had no trouble in growing them,' but 

 it seems to be the general cry this past 

 season that they were affected with this 

 green rot." 



Question. — "Did you ever have any 



you grown 



J. L. Hilborn, I^eamin^ton, Ont. 



experience with the 'Imperial'?" 



Answer. — ' ' Yes, it is a nice sample and 

 it takes well in the market, but it does 

 not pay us as well as the others." 



Mr. Robinson: — "I paid a visit to 

 growers in my district this year, and I 

 was surprised to see the amount of rot 

 in the 'Earliana' and 'Plentiful.' Some 

 ground was very rich, and I do not think 

 you want the ground rich for tomatoes." 



Question. — "Do you have any leaf 

 blight among your tomatoes?" 



Answer. — "Yes, more or less, but we 

 do not mind it very much, because we 

 think we get the fruit a little earlier." 



Mr. Robinson: — "We grew a few 'Im- 

 perial,' and they started with the leaf 

 blight. The crop was very promising, but 

 the leaves seemed to turn black and had 

 the same kind of smell potatoes have 

 when they get the bHght." 



Answer. — "I think spraying will help 

 that. Some five years ago we were 

 troubled with blight on our tomatoes, 

 and we sprayed with the Bordeaux Mix- 

 ture as we loaded them on the waggon. 

 We gave them two or three applications 

 after they went to the field, and were 

 able to control it very well. The last 

 three years we have had very little 

 blight. I think it is largely owing to 

 weather conditions." 



"I used to grow melons very exten- 

 sivel}-, both the water melons and the 

 musk melon." 



Question. — "What is the particular 

 kind that you grow ? ' ' 



Answer. — "The improved Hacken- 

 sack." 



Question. — "Do you treat them sim- 

 ilar to cucumbers? " 



Answer. — "We do not have them so 

 large when we transplant them." 



Question. — "Do you plant the melons 

 in furrows?" 



Answer. — "We mark out the field in 



rows and we put the two rows eight feet 

 apart and the next two rows six feet 

 apart. ' ' 



Question. — "Haven't you found there 

 is a better demand for the small vellow 

 flesh?" 



Answer. — " Yes, and if I was growing 

 the melon for the Toronto market I 

 would grow small melons. There is 

 more money in it. We have to spray a 

 good deal, and if we put our rows six 

 feet apart there is no room for our spray- 

 ing outfit. We put two plants to the 

 hill. We sow some rye when we take off 

 our early melons and early tomatoes." 



Question. — -"How high do you let your 

 rye get belore you plough it down?" 



Answer. — "We plough it early in the 

 spring. I have used very little "com- 

 mercial fertilizer, except nitrate of soda, 

 when I am putting out my tomatoes. 

 As soon as we get them in the field, I 

 give them a little treat of nitrate of soda, 

 about a teaspoonful to the plant. It 

 seems to start them growing. We had 

 a striking result from that this year when 

 some large plants were moved out early. 

 The plants that we treated vielded fullv 

 one-third more than the others." 



Question. — "Have you had any 

 trouble with melon Aphis?" 



Answer. — "The history of the melon 

 growing countries, as far as I know, is 

 that they have sandy land and they are 

 effected with melon Aphis. It is a. very 

 hard pest to control unless you go about 

 it in the right way. It will cover a five 

 acre field in a week. The female deposits 

 the eggs on limbs and branches of trees in 

 the fall, and those hatch in the spring 

 into females, and they start here and 

 there in the field, and the first progeny 

 are living young, and they give birth to 

 living young in immense numbers. There 

 is just one waj^ to handle them success- 

 fully and that is to watch them closely 



♦Conclusion of an address on "The Growing 

 of Vegetables for Early Markets," delivered 

 at the convention in November of the Ontario 

 Vegetable Growers' Association. The first 

 part of this address was published in the De- 

 cember issue of The Canadian Horticulturist. 



A Leamington, Ontario, Greenhouse in which Vegetables are Grown for the Early Markets. 



12 



