112 MAEKET GARDENING. 



scribed, the only difference being that there is no method 

 of heating introduced, and that the plant beds are all 

 on solid earth, never on raised benches ; the only ex- 

 pense over construction being the introduction of labor- 

 saving methods for watering with rubber hose. This 

 watering apparatus may be identical with that recom- 

 mended for forcing houses. 



Before setting out lettuce, of course it will be nec- 

 essary to have the soil in the beds worked up to a rich 

 and mellow condition. Every practical gardener knows 

 full well that this is of the utmost importance to insure 

 success ; if neglected, or but half done, failure is almost 

 certain to follow. To the intelligent market gardener 

 this hint is superfluous, but it is a subject of primary 

 importance to be impressed upon the mind of the begin- 

 ner. The same preparation and proportion of soil and 

 manure recommended for beds in the forcing house 

 should be used for plant beds in sun houses. 



Market gardeners, as a class, are just awakening to 

 the fact that there is more money to be made in working 

 these sun houses than the more expensive heated houses, 

 furnished with modern heating furnaces, boilers and 

 pipes. Owing to this fact, a very large number of sun 

 houses have been built during the last three or four 

 years in the vicinity of Philadelphia. It seems, also, 

 needless to say that these houses are profitable, and in 

 every respect more desirable than the old-fashioned cold 

 frames or boxes. Truckers, or market gardeners, operat- 

 ing on the northern line of the cotton belt will, no 

 doubt, find in that comparatively mild section a favora- 

 ble location for sun houses, while, at the same time, 

 near enough to the northern cities to be able to deliver 

 their vegetables in good condition. 



