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Decembeb 22, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



255 



y^e toble Forcing. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chic-at^o, Dee. 21.— Cucumbers, 50c to 

 $1.15 doz.; leaf lettuce, 30c to 40c case; 

 head lettuce, $3 to $4 bbl. 



Boston, Dec. 20.— Cucumbers, $6 to $10 

 box: seconds, $3 to $4; mushrooms, 60c 

 to 70c; tomatoes, 25c lb.; asparagus, $4 

 to $5 doz. bunches; lettuce, 25c to 5uc 

 doz.; parsley, 75c box; radishes, 30c doz. 

 bunches. 



TOMATOES. 



What is the best tomato for forcing? 

 "When should the seed be sown to have 

 them in crop by March 15? What is the 

 method of culture? J. H. T. 



If I were cut down to one tomato for 

 forcing I think I would choose Lorillard, 

 as it is a general well-doer, being less in- 

 fluenced by soil and location than some of 

 the others. Stirling Castle and Best of 

 All are also good varieties, the former 

 being an extra free setter, though the 

 fruit is smaller than that of Lorillard. 

 You are too late now to sow seeds to 

 have the plants in crop by March 15, as, 

 under the most suitable conditions and 

 with the best of care and attention, to- 

 matoes require at least four months from 

 the time of sowing until the plants are 

 in full crop. 



If it is important that you should have 

 your crop ready for the above date I 

 would advise you to procure plants now 

 rather than wait for the seedlings. You 

 ought to be able to get good, strong 

 plants in 2^/4 -inch pots and by keeping 

 them moved up and planted as soon as 

 ready you should have no trouble in oc- 

 complishing your purpose. I see such 

 plants of the Lorillard variety adver- 

 tised in the issue of December 8 at $2 

 per hundred, so unless your house is very 

 large it won't cost much to fill it. 



Regarding cultivation, I can give but 

 a brief outline here; to enter into details 

 would take too much space. The seeds 

 should be sown thinly in a rather light, 

 free and finely sifted soil. This should 

 be kept moist but not wet. After the seed- 

 lings are up and large enough to handle, 

 prick over into flats at a distance of 

 about two inches apart, using a rather 

 richer soil than recommended for the 

 seed pans. Shade for a few days until 

 the plants have taken to the new soil, 

 then gradually expose to full sunlight to 

 keep the growth stocky. Before the 

 plants begin to crowd one another in the 

 flats they should be potted up into 214- 

 inch pots. From this they can be moved 

 into 5-inch and from this into the benches. 



Eaised benches are best for tomatoes 

 and these should be about six inches deep. 

 The best soil is a good, fibrous loam, well 

 enriched with manure. A good propor- 

 tion is three parts of soil to one of 

 manure. But unless the soil is to stand 

 for some time before being used it is 

 important that the manure iS pretty well 

 decomposed. The addition of a sprink- 

 ling of bone meal is often advantageous 

 but the necessity of adding this depends 

 a good deal on the quality of your soil. 

 Set your plants eighteen inches apart and 

 train to a single stem. I like the double 

 stem system, but by waiting for your 

 plants to bre^k and branch you would be 



Wnu Nicholson and His Vase of 100 Mixed Carnations. 

 (From a photograph at the re6'en't Boston Exhibition.) 



losing time. By single stem I mean to 

 keep all side shoots pinched off as they 

 appear and concentrate all the strength 

 in the one stem. As the flowers appear they 

 should be pollinated by hand to insure a 

 free set. During bright weather the shak- 

 ing of the vines is often enough to dis- 

 tribute the pollen, but to make sure it 

 is better to run over them with a camel's 

 hair brush, choosing the brightest part 

 of the day for the operation, when the 

 pollen is dry and easier set free. 



The points of your plants may be 

 stopped when they are anywhere from 

 four to six feet in length, but this, of 

 course, must be regulated according to 

 the height of your house. Tomatoes re- 

 quire plenty of water and when the fruit 

 is set and the benches well filled with 

 roots they can be materially assisted by 

 frequent applications of liquid manure. 

 The best temperature is from 60 to 65 de- 

 grees by night, with a rise of from 15 

 to 20 degrees by day, according to the 

 brightness of the weather. 



W. S. Croydon. 



INDOOR GRAP£RIES. 



Varieties. 

 Like most other classes of fruit, there 

 are too many varieties of Vitis vini- 

 fera, the species best adapted for indoor 

 cultivation, though the good ones are 

 really limited. The varieties are, I be- 

 lieve, entirely of European origin. None 

 of the American growers seem to have 

 become interested enough to try and raise 



new varieties, but when their cultivation 

 comes to be more general, which I hope 

 will be the case before many years, 

 probably some of the more enterprising 

 of our growers will turn their attention 

 to this matter and do for the indoor 

 grape what they have done for the out- 

 door species, for the apple, pear, plum, 

 etc., and produce some varieties of 

 American origin that will supersede any- 

 thing heretofore introduced. 



The selection of varieties will depend 

 entirely on the season at which the 

 grapes are to be forced. For an early 

 house the more quickly maturing varie- 

 ties will, of course, be necessary. For 

 this the old stand-by. Black Hamburg, 

 is easily the leafler and, if a black 

 grape only is wanted, I should say plant 

 your house of this variety alone. With 

 average care and attention to the ripen- 

 ing of the wood it is a sure cropper, a 

 free setter and clean, healthy grower. It 

 is of good size, both in bunch and 

 berry, is easily colored and firm enough 

 to stand shipping from California to 

 Maine if properly packed. 



If a white grape is desired the earliest 

 is Buckland Sweetwater. Though this 

 cannot be compared with the Muscat 

 varieties for quality and flavor, it is 

 nevertheless a good grape and where 

 white and black are to be forced together 

 in an early house it is better suited as 

 a companion for Black Hamburg than 

 are the Mtiscat varieties, as it matures 

 at the same time and requires the same 

 temperature and atmospheric conditions. 



