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NOTEMBBR 24, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



19 



Field of Leek in bloom on Gilroy Farm of C C Morse & Co., Santa Qara, GJ, 



Vegetable Forcing. 



FORCING ASPARAGUS. 



The forcing of asparagus may be be- 

 gun any time after the tops have died 

 down, but if it is allowed a short season 

 of rest and left in the ground until it 

 has been frozen over a few times it will 

 respond all the better to forcing. To 

 have asparagus ready to cut for Christ- 

 mas, however, it is necessary to have the 

 crowns in the forcing quarters not later 

 than the first of December. Under the 

 most favorable conditions cutting will 

 begin three weeks from the time the 

 crowns are put in the forcing quarters, 

 but- this is cutting it pretty fine and it 

 is safer to allow four weeks. It is better 

 to be a few days early than a few days 

 late. If it is necessary to cut some of 

 it a few days before it is wanted it can 

 easily be kept by setting the ends of the 

 bunches in water. Treated thus and 

 placed in a temperature of about 40 de* 

 grees it will be all right for' a week or 

 more. 



A supply of crowns sufficient to last 

 the whole season should be lifted before 

 the ground is frozen too hard. They can 

 be stored in a cool cellar, where they 

 should be covered with some loose ma- 

 terial, such as leaves or straw, anything 

 that will keep the roots slightly moist 

 and prevent them from drying up or 

 shriveling. If a cool cellar is not avail- 

 able they will keep well in a pit, which 

 should be dug deep enough to be below 

 the frost line. Here they can be covered 

 so as to be easily reached in any kind 

 of weather. It is not always convenient 

 for the forcer to grow his own plants but 

 where this can be done it is the best 

 and most profitable way. When shipping 

 from a distance more or less vitality is 

 sure to be lost through breakage of the 

 roots, drying or being subjected to ex- 

 treme temperatures. 



Forcing quarters are not of the utmost 

 importance as long as the proper temper- 



ature can be maintained. A good article 

 can be produced in a mushroom house or 

 under a greenhouse bench, but the best 

 possible forcing place is a pit where 

 about two feet of stable manure can be 

 put in the bottom. Our pits are built of 

 brick, about four feet deep with one 4- 

 inch hot water pipe running all the way 

 around. With this pipe we can keep the 

 desired temperature after the heat of 

 the manure begins to fail. After the heat 

 of the manure has dropped to about 60 

 degrees we cover with about an inch of 

 sand. On this the plants are set and 

 covered to a depth of three inches, sand 

 being again used for this purpose. Fre- 

 quent waterings are given, so as to keep 

 the sand moist. A night temperature of 60 

 degrees and a day temperature of 70 to 

 75 degrees is maintained, but at first a 

 little air is left on night and day to let 

 the steam from the manure escape. 



W. S. Croydon. 



STEM-ROT OF CUCUMBERS. 



Kindly inform me what the trouble is 

 with my cucumbers. When the vines are 

 about two feet high they become brown 

 or rusty at the stem. The vines grow 

 fairly well for a time, finally the rust 

 eats into the stem. The leaves in the 

 meantime become blotched or take on a 

 burnt appearance. Finally the vines col- 

 lapse. The soil is three-fourths sandy 

 loam and one part old cow manure with 

 a little slaked lime. The night tempera- 

 ture is from 55 to 60 degrees. The va- 

 riety is White Spine. I send a part of a 

 stem for inspection. J. L. M. 



The trouble is what is commonly known 

 as stem-rot. This trouble can be avert- 

 ed by planting your cucumbers in hills. 

 In place of filling the benches all at 

 once, make a hill of a few shovelfuls of 

 soil, set the plants in this and when the 

 roots appear on the outside add more 

 soil. Planting thus insures against the 

 lodgment of water around the necks of 

 your plants. For these hills special care 

 should be taken to have the soil as fibrous 



as possible and not broken too fine; 

 when rough and open the free passage of 

 water is insured. The ^addition of char- 

 coal to the compost also greatly assists 

 in keeping the whole sweet. The mbrture 

 you are iising will do very well for adding 

 later, as by the time the roots appear 

 and it is necessary to add more soil the 

 plants should be past the danger stage. 

 Be careful not to have the atmosphere of 

 the house too close and humid and try 

 and run the temperature about 5 degrees 

 higher than you are doing now. If you 

 have any plants under way which are not 

 yet affected with the disease you may be 

 able to save them by taking the soil away 

 in a circle about a foot from the plants 

 so that the water will not lodge around 

 the plants and immediately around the 

 necks of the plants make rings of pow- 

 dered charcoal. W. S. Croydon. 



Seed Trade News. 



AMERKIAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION. 



Prea., C. N. Pa^e, Dee Moines. la ; First Vlce- 

 Pres., L. L. May, St. Paul; Secy and Treas.. C. E. 

 Kendel, Cleveland. The 23rd annual meeting 

 will be held on the St. Lawrence, June, 1906. 



Seed potatoes are now one of the prin- 

 cipal items with many of the large Brit- 

 ish houses. 



EivES Junction, Mich. — E. E. Stew- 

 art has just finished harvesting his crop 

 of gladiolus bulbs. The S. Y. Haines 

 Seed Co., lately of Tompkins, Mich., has 

 removed its seed business to this place. 



At Erfurt, Germany, there are about 

 twenty-five firms engaged in the seed 

 trade on a large scale. Flower seeds are 

 grown very extensively, and aHhough 

 more vegetable crops are seen at Qued- 

 linburg than at Erfurt, yet Erfurt is 

 also a center for vegetable seeds. The 

 Erfurt growers have their crops away 

 from town owing to their system of con- 



