CHAPTER XXXI 

 FORCING VEGETABLES 



As mentioned in the preceding chapter, one of the ways of 

 securing fresh vegetables at the North during the winter is to grow 

 them under glass. The growing of vegetables to edible maturity 

 under glass at a time of the year when it would be impossible to 

 grow them out-of-doors in the given locality on account of unfavor- 

 ably low temperatures, is known as '' forcing." This term is used 

 whether the crops are grown in greenhouses, hotbeds or cold- 

 frames, but is most often employed to designate the growing of 

 these crops in artificially-heated glass structures tall enough to 

 protect the gardener as well as his crops from the cold of winter. 

 Certain crops, such as lettuce and radishes, may be grown in low 

 structures like hotbeds (Fig. 188) and coldframes, especially in 

 late winter and early spring; and other crops, like cauliflower, 

 celery, eggplants, cucumbers and certain varieties of muskmelons, 

 may be planted in hotbeds early in the spring and permitted to 

 remain there until reaching maturity, even though at the time 

 they mature the weather is w^arm enough for the outdoor culture 

 of these crops and the glass is left off at night as well as during 

 the day. In this case, the crops are started under forcing condi- 

 tions, but complete their growth essentially in the open. In the 

 strictest sense, forcing implies the maturing of the crop at a time 

 when the plant could not live in the open, though often the last 

 crop of the forcing season continues bearing until after the weather 

 is sufficiently warm for starting a similar crop out-of-doors. 



Marketing Hothouse Vegetables. — Forced vegetables in winter 

 do not compete in the market against stored products. They are, 

 for the most part, sorts that do not lend themselves readily to 

 storage, such as lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. 



Furthermore, there is not much competition between forced 

 products grown close to market and outdoor vegetables of the same 

 kind shipped in from a distance, for the greenhouse products can 

 be marketed in a much fresher condition, and are likely to be more 

 perfectly developed on account of being grown under controlled 

 conditions of temperature and moisture. Hothouse products 

 ordinarily sell much higher than outdoor products at the same 

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