80 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



worth the trouble, and was not satisfactory to his employers. He 

 would like to know himself what was the matter with it. 



As to mushrooms it was a pretty hard question to talk about. 

 AYhen he was located on the Hudson River he was very successful 

 with them, but where he was now, at Oceanic, New Jersey, he 

 found it a very uncertain crop, and he had begun to think it was 

 either a case of hard luck or that he had outgrown his usefulness 

 in this respect. The main thing about mushroom culture is the 

 atmosphere you grow them in ; with him the beds dry out, but in 

 the Hudson River locality they kept moist and never dried out. 



John W. Duncan asked the lecturer concerning the culture of 

 beets under glass. 



Mr. Turner replied that it takes too long for beets to mature; 

 they make slow growth in the winter; and he had cut them out of 

 his forcing list. 



Wilfrid Wheeler asked the lecturer what was the age of his 

 asparagus plants when he set them out. 



INIr. Turner replied that they were about four years old. 



Mr. Wheeler said that was probably the reason of the lack of 

 success with it. The plants should not be over two years old. 



INIr. Turner remarked that he always had the feeling in trnng 

 to grow asparagus under glass that for the roots destroyed it did not 

 pay. 



Robert Cameron asked the lecturer if he had ever tried the 

 foi'cing of Ash Leaf Kidney potatoes which is done quite extensively 

 in Europe. 



INIr. Turner answered that he had never tried forcing potatoes 

 in this country. 



INIr. iNIoore said he considered beet culture under glass as quite 

 a profitable crop in Arlington. With cucumber heat they grow 

 quickly and sell for a pretty high price along in April. They may 

 take up a good deal of plant food, but on the whole he considered 

 it paid to grow them. 



James Wheeler said he was much interested in the matter of 

 heating the house — whether hot water or steam is the best. He 

 said that if ^Ir. Rawson had to do his own firing he might think 

 better of the hot water system. His opinion was that for houses 

 under fourteen or fifteen thousand feet of glass hot water was the 

 best. 



