THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



65 



gine to raise water into an elevated 

 tank. This gives us a good supply, 

 which is piped into all the greenhouses 

 and arranged so that we can reach all 

 parts of the houses with hose. 



Ariington White Spine is the variety 

 used most extensively. The past sea- 

 son we began shipping cucumbers May 

 29 in II quart baskets, 18 to 24 in a 

 basket. This industry is rapidly in- 

 creasing in importance, and the need 

 for experimental work is generally rec- 

 ognized. 



Forcing Cxicumbers 



THE forcing of cucumbers is treated 

 in Bulletin No. 231 of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, Ithaca, N.Y., by Professors 

 Craig and Hunn. It is advised that the 

 seed be started in small pots or sod, so 

 that the soil cannot break away from 

 the roots of the young plant when being 

 transferred to the benches. Soil con- 

 sisting of equal parts of loam, leaf mould 

 and sand is recommended for the pots 

 and loam, sand and well-rotted manure 

 for the benches. The plants should be 

 placed two feet apart. To avoid "damp- 

 ing off" a handful of sand is scattered 

 under the ball of roots and over the sur- 

 face around the stem. The plants are 

 trained on wire trellises. Stout wires 

 are run lengthwise and finer wires con- 

 necting an upper and a lower strand 

 used. The plants are tied to these as 

 they grow. When the main vine has 

 reached the desired height the tip is 

 nipped off and the development of lat- 

 erals induced. No fruit development 

 should be encouraged until the vines are 

 stout and strong. The fruits develop 

 rapidly and in many cases require some 

 support to prevent them breaking the 

 vines down. Some growers make slings 

 for the fruit, while others place a thin 

 board horizontally and rest the fruits on 

 this. The time of planting depends on 

 when the crop is required. About two 

 months from the time the seed is sown 

 the crop is ready for market if no set- 

 back has been received. 



Some growers do not use trellises, but 

 those who have tried both methods pre- 

 fer having the vines overhead. Con- 

 siderable quantities are grown in On- 

 tario every year. 



"I always like to have the cucumber 

 vines on wires above the benches," said 

 Mr. J. E. Terrill, of Picton, to ThS 

 Horticulturist, a short time ago. 

 "The plants are much more easily wat- 

 ered, the fruits are kept out of the dirt, 

 and the crop can be handled more read- 

 ily. I like to have them ready for mar- 

 ket by May 15, and the same vines 

 produce a crop until the outdoor varie- 

 ties come in. 



I have been a regular subscriber for The 

 Canadian Horticulturist for 24 years, and 

 would not think of doing without it. — (W. C. 

 Reid, BelleviUe, Ont. 



Planting Asparag'xis 



Prof. H. L. Hutt, O.A.C., Guelph 



I am getting ready to plant a bed of aspara- 

 gus. The land is fertile, and somewhat wet, 

 but I am having it underdrained. I cannot get 

 the pipes down more than two feet or so. Would 

 this soil be sufficiently deep for asparagus, and 

 would the underdraining be likely to make the 

 soil produce a crop early in the season? I 

 would like to get a clearer idea as to how soil 

 that has been drained compares with natural 

 sandy soil, that is, in earliness of workability 

 and in earliness of the crop produced. The 

 distance apart for planting asparagus varies 

 from six feet between the rows and three feet 

 in the rows down to three feet by one foot 

 apart. Which is the best and most practical 

 space?— (F. P. W., Toronto. 



I have at hand no data from which to 

 make comparison of naturally well- 

 drained sandy soil and thoroughly tile- 

 drained low soil on the earliness of the 

 crops grown on them, but my impression 

 is that the naturally well-drained soil 

 would be earlier and far more satisfac- 

 tory than the tile-drained soil. Aspara 

 gus does best on soil naturally well 

 drained, and I would hesitate to plant 

 it very extensively on soil which was 

 not well drained. I am inclined to be- 

 lieve that with the tiles only two feet 

 below the surface there might be danger 

 of the roots getting into and blocking 

 the drains. 



The distance apart for planting aspar- 

 agus has been variously given, both for 

 field and garden culture. For conven- 

 ience of cultivation, it is recommended 

 for field culture that the rows be four 

 or five feet apart and the plants two or 

 three feet apart in the row. This, how- 

 ever, is more than is necessary for the 

 full development of plants. To econo- 

 mize space or to get as much crop off a 

 given area as possible, I would recom- 

 mend setting the plants two feet apart, 

 in rows three feet apart. This will give 

 plenty of room for full development, and 

 if the ground is liberally manured the 

 plants will not suffer from exhaustion of 

 the soil. 



BxincKing' Veg'etables 

 for Profit 



In discussing the best methods for 

 bunching crops, at a meeting of the 

 Toronto Vegetable Growers on January 

 6, Mr. R. Lankin claimed that much 

 time and money was lost by the system 

 followed by many of the growers. Put- 

 ting up small bunches was claimed to 

 entail a great loss of time, and it was 

 pointed out that with the vegetable 

 grower, as with other people, time means 

 money. With almost every crop larger 

 bunches can be made with advantage 

 and profit to the grower. 



It was asserted by Mr. Jos. Allen that 

 many retail dealers want five cent 

 bunches and if larger bunches are made 

 they frequently sell for less than they are 

 worth. Mr. Jos. Rush advised that an 

 effort should be made to establish a 



uniform system of bunching throughout 

 Ontario. One grower does not know 

 what another grower means by a bunch. 

 A five cent bunch means anything. It 

 may consist of 12 onions or there may 

 be only six. Something definite should 

 be decided on. He recommended 

 that beets and carrots should be put six 

 in a bunch, onions 12 in a bunch, and 

 radishes 12 in a bunch. He pointed out 

 that more care should be taken by the 

 individual grower in grading the vege- 

 tables. It was suggested that the 

 Association draw up a scale for bunching 

 and submit it to the other Vegetable 

 Growers' Associations. Something should 

 be done to adopt the same system 

 throughout the Province. 



Mr. Delworth remarked that bunching 

 as practised by many growers is very 

 expensive, and in many cases more 

 could be had for the same crop if it were 

 sold in bulk. Much of the bunched good 

 was sold at a loss when labor is counted 

 in. The time required for washing and 

 tying ran away with the profit. A 

 great many growers get into the way of 

 bunching and do not change their meth- 

 ods because they have never figured it 

 out. It was suggested by Mr. Geo. 

 Syme that the system of bunching should 

 be regulated by the merchants to whom 

 the goods are to be sold. The high- 

 class butchers and grocers want bunches 

 that will sell two or three bunches for 

 10 cents, whereas peddlers want every- 

 thing in five cent bunches. 



TKe Onion Bed 



In an interview with The Canadian 

 Horticulturist, Mr. George Benner, 

 of Burlington, said, "The onion bed 

 should not be ploughed in the spring 

 as the ground is much more easily kept 

 clean. I use plenty of manure and 

 plough it in in the fall. If the bed 

 is slightly rounded up to keep it 

 free from water and prevent baking 

 of the surface soil, better results are 

 sure to come. 



"Snow or frost will not hurt onions. 

 I sow early Globe Denvers as early as 

 the ground can be worked. The best 

 yield can be had from planting in rows 

 12 inches apart. These can be culti- 

 vated readily with the hand cultivator. 

 Plenty of work is needed to keep the 

 onions growing steadily". "One of the 

 main things in growing onions," says 

 Mr. Benner, "is to have the crop ripened 

 and cured before rainy weather comes 

 in the fall." 



Peppers need rich sandy loam and 

 frequent cultivation. I grew 8,000 plants 

 last year. They were started in the 

 greenhouse about the middle of Feb- 

 ruary. One transplanting is sufficient. 

 After all danger of frost is past I plant 

 them in rows two and a half feet apart, 

 and one foot apart in the row. — (Geo. 

 Benner, Burlington, Ont. 



