104 MARKET GARDENING. 



hotels, restaurants and club houses, not depending upon 

 the chance sales of commission merchants. Such con- 

 tracts as referred to cannot be obtained by a small pro- 

 ducer, as his crop is too limited and too transient to 

 command the confidence of a large daily consumer who 

 cannot afford to run any chances of supply. 



The highest price obtained for head lettuce is gen- 

 erally in the month of March, when they sometimes 

 bring seven dollars per one hundred. Small red radishes 

 sell highest in January and February, when they often 

 bring forty cents per one hundred, put up in bunches of 

 twelve. Cauliflowers are most profitable in March and 

 April, and they frequently bring fifty cents each. Of 

 course, it is understood that all vegetables, especially 

 those forced under glass, are in best condition immedi- 

 ately after pulling or cutting, but it may be profitable to 

 know the maximum extent of time during the cool 

 months, during which hothouse vegetables can be trans- 

 ported in satisfactory condition. This period for lettuce, 

 cauliflower and radishes, from two to three days, pro- 

 vided they are carefully packed. 



Plan No. 3. The style of construction of houses 

 under system No. 3 is the design of a market gardener 

 of Camden, N. J., Mr. Rodolphus Bingham, who has 

 built a very cheap forcing house for vegetables, the 

 framework of which any farmer can erect. The house 

 may be single, or better, double. The sills are laid 

 upon the natural earth thirteen feet apart, kept from 

 spreading by stakes driven on the outside, the rafters 

 and ridge erected, the sash laid on, and the work is 

 done, except placing boiler with furnace and fitting hot 

 water pipes. The advantages claimed by Mr. Bingham 

 for this plan are : 



First A saving in cost of construction by doing 

 away with all supporting posts or walls. 



Second A saving of heat by placing the furnace 



