100 MARKET GARDENING. 



times, the loss of all or a portion of the crop was, in the 

 estimation of the more practical gardeners of the present 

 day, often owing to overheating. A reduced amount of 

 heat is less expensive, and, at the same time, the results 

 are more satisfactory. In following the system of mod- 

 erate heating there is less loss among soft-leaved vege- 

 tables from what gardeners term "damping off." This 

 dreaded disease comes like a thief in the night, and 

 works destruction with the crop. Instances are well 

 known where one-half to two-thirds of a crop of lettuce, 

 in large houses, has been destroyed by this "damping 

 off" before the plants were half grown. It seems to be 

 the fashion nowadays to attribute all obscure cases of 

 mortality of plants under glass to "fungoid growth." 

 A little science is a dangerous thing, and it would often 

 be more practical to attribute it to a want of physical 

 strength consequent upon unfavorable conditions. 



The modern method of watering forcing houses is 

 very different now from what it was formerly. In fact, 

 the present system entails little labor; a half-grown boy, 

 with good sense, can perform the work without difficulty. 

 A pipe one and one-quarter inches in diameter connected 

 with the steam pump and cistern, and then laid under 

 the side benches with screw-tipped faucets arranged at 

 intervals of twenty feet, so that a rubber hose may be 

 attached, is the present form of apparatus. To the end 

 of the rubber pipe should be fixed a rose, or sprinkler, 

 twice or thrice as large as the rose on a large watering- 

 pot ; with this the watering can be done with ease and 

 rapidity. The holes in the rose, or nozzle, should be 

 small, so as to throw a large and fine spray of water over 

 the beds. The frequency of watering depends altogether 

 on the condition of the atmosphere. There are times 

 when the beds should be watered daily, and, again, when 

 once or twice a week will be quite sufficient. This is a 

 matter that every practical gardener exercising common 



