JVNa 15. 1006 



The WccEIy Florists^ Review* 



187 



Gold Medal Exhibit of Clarke Bros., Portland, Ore., at the Lewis & Qark Exposition. 



planting, gives us no rest at this time 

 of the year and, where painting is need- 

 ed, it should be done without delay. A 

 newly painted house will be a joy to you 

 every time you enter it, and death on 

 the bugs. William Scott. 



V^etable Forcing. 



Will some one give the reason why 

 the growing of head lettuce under glass 

 has never been successful in the Chi- 

 cago district! 



TOMATOES UNDER GLASS. 



By Georoe E. Stone, Amherst, Mass. 



Temperature and Moisture. 



Tomatoes require about the same tem- 

 perature as cucumbers, namely, 60 to 65 

 degrees at night and 80 degrees or more 

 durmg the day. During cloudy weather 

 lower temperatures should be nriaintained 

 than during bright days. Too much 

 moisture should not be maintained in the 

 house, as this encourages mildew. In 

 fact, the most effective remedy for mil- 

 dew IS to hold the moisture down. The 

 soil should be well supplied with water. 

 Ihere is not the same danger from over- 

 watering tomatoes as there is in cucum- 

 bers. The latter crop often have their 

 roots rotted off by excessive watering 

 during cloudy weather. 



Pollination. 



. Inuring the winter and spring months 

 It Js necessary to pollinate the plants, 

 inis IS done either by directly pollinating 

 them with a camels-hair brush, a wooden 

 laaie or spoon, or by shaking or jarring 



the plants. The latter method succeeds 

 in pollinating about 50 or 60 per cent of 

 the blossoms. By the use of the ladle or 

 camels-hair brush, pollinating ought to be 

 done quite successfully if practiced every 

 day or two. In case jarring is practiced, 

 it should be done when the air in the 

 house is dry, since pollination is not so 

 certain when the air is full of moisture. 

 Even with the somewhat tedious process 

 of pollination by hand, one-sided fruit is 

 likely to develop occasionally from imper- 

 fect fertilization. 



Chemtcal Fertilizers. 



Tomatoes respond to chemical fertiliz- 

 ers more readily than some other green- 

 house crops. A considerable number of 

 experiments have been recorded by our 

 experiment stations relating to the ef- 

 fects of fertilizers on tomatoes, both 

 with greenhouse and outdoor crops. 

 When the soil contains a certain amount 

 of phosphoric acid and potash, such as 

 is likely to occur in well prepared loam, 

 one early application of nitrate of soda 

 should prove sufficient and be all that is 

 desirable. Nitrogen appears to be the 

 ruling element in tomato fertilizers. The 

 Connecticut station produces a good crop 

 in coal ashes with 6.40 pounds nitrate of 

 soda, one pound of bone black, 2.40 

 pounds muriate of potash per 100 square 

 feet of bench surface. This formula 

 might be applied to advantage in grow- 

 ing tomato plants, but in good loam the 

 two latter constituents could be omitted. 



Time to Manure Gx>p. 



From a considerable amount of data 

 available it would appear that it requires 

 about 150 days from the time of seeding 

 to mature fruit of tomato plants. About 

 one half this time, or aeventy-fivc days, 

 IS required to develop the plants to suf- 

 ficient size for transplanting. 



Yield of Tomatoes. 



The average yield in our northern cli- 

 mate should be from eight to twelve 

 pounds, or more, fruit per plant. A cer- 

 tain number of these will have to be dis- 

 carded on account of inferior size and rot. 

 In order to make a profit from a winter 

 or spring crop of tomatoes the fruit 

 ought not to be sold for less than 20 to 

 30 cents per pound; 40 to 60 cents per 

 pound are prices frequently obtained, 

 however. 



Considering the length of time re- 

 quired to mature tomatoes, their liability 

 to disease and the price usually obtained 

 for the product, we consider cucumbers 

 superior to tomatoes, and lettuce better 

 than either, from the point of view of 

 financial returns. Much, however, de- 

 pends upon the market and prices ob- 

 tained for these^ crops. At least three 

 crops of lettuce can be grown to one of 

 either tomatoes or cucumbers. More- 

 over, a lettuce crop practically covers 

 every square foot of ground surface of 

 a house. Three crops of lettuce at 50 

 cents per dozen would give a yield of 27 

 cents a square foot of ground surface. 

 To utilize a house to the best advantage 

 for these three crops the following esti- 

 mate may be taken. These estimates are 

 based on a house eighteen feet wide, and 

 the returns per linear foot would be as 

 follows : 



Tomatoes at 25 cents a lb., 6 lbs per 



plant $4. 50 



Cucumbers, 5 doz. per plant, |1.25 per doz. 6.25 

 Lettuce at 50 cents a dozen heads 8.91 



It should be added, however, that these 

 figures should not be taken too seriously, 

 as many conditions enter here to modify 

 these estimates, but on the whole the ma- 

 jority of experienced men would consider 

 lettuce and cucumbers as giving better 

 financial returns than tomatoes. It 

 should be noted, however, in connection 



