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May 11, 1910. 



The Florists' Review 



17 



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VEGETABLES AND 

 FRUITS DEPARTMENT 



SWEET POTATOES. 



Kindly inform me what will make 

 canvas turn water. I wish to cover 

 a sweet potato hotbed with this ma- 

 terial. Also, how many bushels of 

 seed sweet potatoes will be needed for 

 a bed 4x16 feet, and how many slips 

 can be taken from the seed sweets 

 every other day? Any information 

 will be appreciated. C. JJ. H. — 111. 



f J I'^Draw the canvas taut over the frame 

 •*•'» of your sweet potato hotbed and apply 

 warm linseed oil with a paint brush. 

 One bushel of medium-sized seed sweet 

 potatoes will cover sixteen square feet, 

 or four bushels will be needed for a 

 bed 4x16 feet. 

 ' The Yellow Nansemond and fellow 

 Jersey varieties average about 3,000 

 plants to the bushel. The Big> Stem 

 Jersey, Early Golden and Nancy Hall 

 varieties are not so productive, and 

 we consider 2,500 plants from a bushel 

 of seeds a good yield. About seventy- 

 five per cent of the plants usually are 

 ready for drawing in six weeks after 

 bedding, and the balance ten days later. 



H. Austin. 



WANTS LARGER TOMATOES. 



In The Review for April 13, on page 

 50, there appeared an article under the 

 heading "Tomatoes Under Glass," by 

 r. E. B. The method of artificial polli- 

 nation described certainly is the proper 

 one, as it never fails to set the fruit, 

 but there are several questions I would 

 like to have F. E. B. answer. Here 

 they are: 



What variety of tomatoes do you 

 grow? I have mostly grown the Comet, 

 but I find that the fruit, while it sets 

 well, is small; it averages about six or 

 seven to the pound. My market wants 

 about four or five tomatoes to the 

 pound. 



How far apart do you set the plants? 

 I plant two rows in a bench three feet 

 six inches wide, and set the plants four- 

 teen inches apart in the rows. 



How often and what do you feed the 

 plants? I mix four pounds of nitrate 

 of soda with eight pounds of sulphate 

 of potash and twelve pounds of super- 

 phosphate. I feed two ounces of this 

 to the square yard, one application eacli 

 week. When I first plant I use a little 

 more soda and less potash. My fruit 

 is always of excellent flavor. 



When do you stop your plants? I 

 generally allow mine to grow about 

 seven feet. The jilants have seven to 

 nine fruit bunches. 



Do you have any trouble in obtain- 

 ing large tomatoes? This is my great- 

 est trouble. My blossoms set well, but 

 they will not swell to a good size. This 

 year they are better, but still not so 

 large as I want them. If I fed the 

 plants more, would I obtain better re- 

 sults? C. D. O.— Cal. 



I grow the variety known as Balch 's 

 Fillbasket. It is a smooth variety and 

 produces four or five tomatoes to the 

 pound. Also, it is the earliest variety 

 I know. I am sending you a little of 

 the seed. My house is 25x200 feet; 

 the output is seven tons of fruit. 



I WHO'S WHOlliSI- AND WHY j 



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JOHN POEHLMANN. 



IT would be a fine thing for the trade if there were more men in it lield in the 

 esteem accorded John W. Poehlmann. Everyone acquainted with trade history 

 knows the outline of Mr. Poehlmann 's business career; how as young men from 

 Milwaukee three brothers started, in 1890, a greenhouse business at Morton Grove, 

 111., on a combined cash capital of $80; how today the corporation that eventuated 

 has the largest investment in greenhouses and equipment to be found anywhere 

 in the United States, its assets being appraised above a million. John Poehlmann, 

 the eldest of the brothers, is president and in charge of the Chicago wholesale 

 store. He is a man of few words, but with a keen sense of humor and his advice 

 frequently is sought by outsiders, because of his well known conservatism. Mr. 

 Poehlmann recently has not been in good health and has freed himself of business 

 details, with the result that he has had time to keep in still closer touch with trade 

 aflfairs in general. 



The distance between the plants 

 should be at least eighteen inches. If 

 grown too close the plants come drawn 

 and weak, and carry poor fruit. 



Your feeding is quite wrong. Never 

 mix nitrate of soda with acid phos- 

 phates or sulphate of ammonia. The 

 mixing of superphosphate with nitrate 

 of soda liberates the free nitric acid. 

 The use of large quantities of nitrate 

 of soda on the tomato plant before it is 

 balanced would give you excessive 

 growth at the expense of the fruit. A. 

 larger quantity of phosphate or bone 

 flour would be infinitely better. The 

 potash is all right and would give you 

 quality and flavor. 



The question of when to stop the 

 plants depends on how you want the 

 fruit. If you require an early crop, 

 stop the plants at the third bunch, one 

 leaf above the bunch of fruit. Remove 

 the leading lateral bud and take up 



the lateral bud below the top bunch of 

 fruit. To have a full crop, run the 

 plants to the roof and then lay in all 

 side growths. 



When the tomato commences to swell 

 you should begin to feed — never give 

 a young horse corn. Possibly the best 

 you could use for this purpose would 

 be fish or blood fertilizer. Both are 

 organic and contain fourteen to six- 

 teen per cent of ammonia. A liberal 

 dressing once a week, with an occa- 

 sional soaking of cow manure liquid, 

 would be about right. Never feed a to- 

 mato plant with nitrogenous manures 

 until it is balanced and fruiting; 



F. E. B. 



Columbus, O. — Samuel Graff will 

 move his store from its present loca- 

 tion, in Keith 's Theater building, to 

 the Braun building, 57 East Gay street, 

 about July 1. 



