26 



The Florists' Review 



Jandabt 28, 1016. 



Vegetable Forcmg 



QUANTITY OF SEED POTATOES. 



I have a piece of land, 60x95 feet, 

 which I intend to plant with potatoes. 

 Will you tell me how much land there 

 is and how many pounds of seed po- 

 tatoes will be required to plant it, run- 

 ning the drills two and one-half feet 

 apart and allowing fifteen inches be- 

 tween the potatoes in the rows? My 

 location is south-central Massachusetts. 

 H. M. M. 



Your piece of ground comprises about 

 an acre and a fifth, viz., 5,700 square 

 yards, an acre being 4,840 square 

 yards. The quantity of seed potatoes 

 needed will depend much upon the size 

 of sets cut. 'You will need about 13,800 

 sets per acre. If these are cut to a 

 single eye, ten bushels of seed per acre 

 wiU suffice. If cut with two eyes, a 

 proportionately larger quantity will be 

 needed. I would advise making the 

 rows three feet apart and planting the 

 sets twelve inches apart in the rows. 

 In your latitude you will find Green 

 Mountain the best main crop potato. 

 Aroostook Pride and Irish Cobbler are 

 useful as early varieties. C. W. 



CUCUMBEBS IN USTTUCE HOUSE. 



I want to grow cucumbers in the 

 early spring and summer. I shall have 

 a house, 32x200, empty about March 1 

 and wish to plant them at that time. 

 I want to plant the seed in pots and 

 then set the seedlings in the ground. 

 At what temperature should they be 

 kept? What pests trouble them most! 

 The house is used for forcing lettuce 

 and has fine lettuce soil. F. 'Gt'i \ 

 •■'' I 



Cucumbers require a night tempera- ' 

 ttire of 60 to 65 degrees in winter. In 

 punimer this can be increased advan- 

 tageously. During the daytime the 

 temperature can be allowed to run up 

 to 95 or 100 degrees with sun, and, pro- 

 vided the plants are sufficiently moist 

 at the roots and the atmosphere con- 

 tains plenty of moisture, they will take 

 no harm. Violent fluctuations in tem- 

 perature must be guarded against at 

 all times. 



Among the pests and diseases which 

 trouble cucumbers are the following: 

 Green and black aphis. This must be 

 kept in control by frequent fumiga- 

 tion. Where steam is used it is easy 

 to evaporate some nicotine liquid on 

 the pipes. Cucumbers will not stand 

 heavy fumigation. Root-gall is some- 

 times troublesome; sterilization or thor- 

 ough freezing of the soil is the best 

 cure. A small mite that attacks the 

 under surfaces of the leaves can be 

 controlled by persistent use of the hose, 

 using a fine spray nozzle when direct- 

 ing it. Some of the oil and soap sprays 

 are also use'ful. Red spider will not 

 appear unless the atmosphere has be- 

 come too arid. Once it appears it is 

 a hard pest to control; the jalants at- 

 tacked are usually ruined. Mildew is 

 the fungoid disease to be dreaded. Un- 

 sanitary conditions breed it. Keep a 

 nice, buoyant atmosphere. Avoid cold 

 drafts and a close but too cold house. 

 Soiled sulphur or powdered sulphur, 

 applied to the foliage through a pow- 

 der bellows, is the best remedy. With 

 fire heat at your disposal when cold, 



damp spells of weather occur, mildew 

 should not trouble you. 



The soil for cucumbers must be rich. 

 Add plenty of well rotted cow or horse 

 manure to the soil. When the plants 

 have set fruit freely, a mulch of cow 

 manure will prove beneficial; it also 

 prevents the soil from drying out so 

 rapidly. • C. W. 



MILDEW ON LETTUCE. 



We have lettuce about half grown, 

 some of the leaves of which have yel- 

 low spots on them, and the under sides 

 of the leaves are shrunken and have 

 white, moldy spots on them. Can 

 you tell us the cause of this? There 

 are few if any insects on the plants. 

 We have not fumigated to excess. The 

 weather has been cold and dark during 

 the last two weeks; could that be the 

 cause? This trouble is spreading all 

 over our houses. S. & K. 



I am afraid your plants are attacked 

 by mildew. This usually comes from 

 violent changes in temperature, care- 

 less ventilation and an atmosphere too 

 heavily charged with moisture at night. 

 When once the plants are badly at- 

 tacked, you can do little toward sav- 

 ing them. By boiling sulphur in the 

 house you can get it under partial con- 

 trol. Your lettuce should have a 

 minimum temperature of 45 to 48 de- 

 grees; if higher, it is too warm. A 

 rise of 10 degrees can be allowed on 

 dark days, and 15 degrees when it is 

 clear. 



Lettuce soil should be light, rich, 

 loose and porous. Heavy soil must be 

 treated with sand or other gritty ma- 

 terial. One soaking watering with a 

 few surface dampings should carry a 

 crop through. Hot or cold night tem- 

 peratures, overwaterinjg and bad ven- 

 tilation will soon cause mildevir to ap- 

 pear. C. W. 



CLUB BOOT ON TOMATOES. 



We are enclosing some tomato roots 

 with galls or knots on them. We want 

 to plant another crop in the same soil 

 in which these were grown, and, as we 

 are not in a position to sterilize the 

 soU with steam, we would like to know 

 if there is any kind of gas we could 

 use for sterilizing. We have seen in 

 catalogues several things recommended 

 for sterilizing soil for worms and mag- 

 gots. Are these of any use for this 

 kind of worm? J. J. C. & S. 



The roots are attacked by club root, 

 also called club foot. Various remedies 

 are suggested to take the place of ster- 

 ilization with steam, but none, so far 

 as my observation and experience have 

 gone, have proved particularly success- 

 ful. You cannot check this disease on 

 your growing plants, and, if the trouble 

 is acute, I would advise pulling up and 

 burning the tomatoes. Then give the 

 soil a good dressing of lime. Work this 

 well into the soil, and plant some crop 

 which is not attacked by club root: 

 Lime is only a partial remedy. C. W. 



McKeesport, Pa. — Edward Frederick 

 is planning to build some additional 

 greenhouses. 



Canby, Ore. — Joseph Sutherland is 

 erecting A'vgrconhouse, in which he will 

 force vegetables for market. " I 



Denver, Colo. — Conrad Lengenfeldfer 

 has obtained a permh; to erect a green- 

 house at 3260 West Colfax street. It 

 is to cost $2,000. 



Farmington, Mich. — Preparations for 

 the erection of an addition to the Farm- 

 ington Greenhouses are being made. It 

 will be used as a plant house. 



College Point, N. Y.— Two large green- 

 houses of the most modern construction 

 are being added at the establishment 

 of Anton Schultheis, on Nineteenth 

 street. 



Tiffin, O. — Plans for new greenhouses 

 are under consideration by the man- 

 • agement of Ullrich 's Greenhouses. A 

 representative of a Chicago construc- 

 tion firm was here recently to confer 

 with Edmund Ullrich on the subject. • 



Scranton, Pa. — Plans for an addition 

 to the Cleland greenhouse in Nay Aug 

 park, to cost $7,000, have been pre- 

 pared by the William H. Lutton Co., 

 of Jersey City, N. J. There were not 

 sufficient funds to include the building 

 of the greenhouse in the budget, and 

 it is not known whether it will be 

 recommended for the bond issue; so its 

 erection is not j^et being definitely con- 

 sidered. 



Baleigh, N. C— J. L. O'Quinn & Co. 

 have obtained a permit to build a 

 greenhouse on Swain street to cost 

 $2,500. 



Kansas City, Mo. — E. L. Clemens 

 •j Wild a good year in 1914, finds trade 

 'holding up well and plans to put up 

 another house this summer. 



Denver, Colo. — W. C. Walker has ob- 

 tained a permit to erect a greenhouse, 

 to cost $3,000, on Columbine street, be- 

 tween Fourth and Fifth avenues. 



Media, Pa.— The King Construction 

 Co., of North Tonawanda, N. Y., has 

 been awarded the contract for the erec- 

 tion of a greenhouse for the Glen Mills 

 school. This structure is to cost $2,785. 



Columbus, O. — Plans have been com- 

 pleted by Architect J. N. Bradford, of 

 Ohio State University, and approved 

 for a new greenhouse for the uni- 

 versity, to cost in the neighborhood of 

 $7,000. The greenhouses will be used for 

 growing commercial vegetables and will 

 be connected with the university heat- 

 ing plant. 



Fairfield, la. — E. H. Montgomery has 

 let to the John C. Moninger Co., Chi- 

 cago, the contract for two iron-frame 

 truss houses 29x209, to be heated by a 

 battery of two Moninger cast-iron sec- 

 tional hot water boilers. The benches 

 will be constructed of pecky cypress 

 with the exception of the legs, which 

 will be made of a special glazed tile. 

 H. M. Berner represented the John C. 

 Moninger Co. in the transaction. 



