U60 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



October 12, 1905. 



trade far greater than the great good 

 which has resulted in previous years. 



The Chicago Florists' Club has already 

 announced its intention of entertaining 

 visiting members of the trade on Thurs- 

 day of flower show week. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



English cucumber forcers have for 

 several years suffered heavy losses 

 through the ravages of a spot disease 

 which frequently destroyed whole houses 

 of plants and for which no remedy has 

 been discovered. But several varieties 

 have now come to the front which are 

 heralded as ' ' spot proof ' ' and which, if 

 they prove true to the description, will 

 be worth large sums. One man is selling 

 a large crop of seed at $25 an ounce. 



SOILS FOR HEAD LETTUCE^ 



In the Eeview of June 15 I noticed 

 the following question: "Will some one 

 give us a reason why the growing of head 

 lettuce under glass has never been suc- 

 cessful in the Chicago district?" 



One of the principal reasons why head 

 lettuce is not grown in the west is that 

 the texture of the soil is quite different 

 from that of the Atlantic seaboard. I 

 imagine another reason is that the curly, 

 or Grand Eapids, lettuce is better liked 

 in the west and consequently better 

 adapted to the market than in the east. 

 The Atlantic coast soils, or truck soils, 

 as they are called, are noted for contain- 

 ing a considerable amount of coarse sand 

 and a small amount of finer constituents, 

 such as silt and clay. When eight or ten 

 per cent or more of organic matter is 

 added to this soil it makes an excellent 

 medium for growing vegetables. This 

 soil is very looge and friable, and it is 

 not difficult to run one's hand under the 

 surface for a considerable distance with 

 little effort. On the other hand, the 

 western soils are much heavier and more 

 compact, and on this account they are 

 unsuitable for growing head lettuce. 



Lettuce is very susceptible to soil tex- 

 ture. It is necessary, even in the germin- 

 ation of the seeds that they should be 

 provided with air; hence they v^ffl" ger- 

 minate much better in a loose soil than 

 in a compact one. The roots of the young 

 seedlings and mature plants also require 

 air, such as is furnished in a loose soil. 

 I have numerous photographs showing 

 results of experiments with lettuce that 

 illustrate the influence of loose and com- 

 pact soil on seed germination and the de- 

 velopment of the plant. Young lettuce 

 seedlings will remain stationary for weeks 

 in a soil of fine texture, and they even- 

 tually die from " want of root aeration. 



In order that the influence of texture 

 of the soil in the development of lettuce 

 may be brought out more clearly I refer 

 the reader to the following table: 



Table showing the influence of soil 

 texture (coal ashes) on the germination 

 of lettuce seed and growth of plants; 

 200 seeds used in each box. 



Percent Av. wt. in 



Size of particles. germination milli^'ms, 



(Coal ashes.) of seed, of seedlings 



Box l-( 2- 1 millimeters fi5.6 26.1!> 



Box2-(l-.5 •• 68.0 23.52 



Box3-(.5-.2.5 " 38.5 12.98 



Box4-(.25-.l " 33.5 7.<6 



Box6-(.1-.0001 " 18.0 5.50 



In this experiment, which was made in 



coal ashes sifted through sieves, we have 



eimilar conditions as regards plant food. 



The experiment was made in boxes eight 

 inches square, there being the same 

 amount of soil in each box. The boxes 

 were weighed daily and the moisture 

 contents of the medium in which the 

 plants were growing were brought to 

 the same degree of saturation. The fac- 

 tors, therefore, likely to rise through the 

 influence of variation in the amount of 

 plant food, and the percentage of mois- 

 ture contained in the soil or ashes on 

 growth are eliminated as far as possible 

 in this experiment. From this table it 

 will be seen that there is a marked dif- 

 ference in the number of seeds germi- 

 nated and in the size of the seedlings 

 grown in different sized particles, the 

 finer particles preventing germination 

 and retarding growth. This difference is 

 due to the amount of air and oxygen con- 

 tained in the medium in which the plants 

 are grown, or, in other words, the amount 

 of aeration which the seed and seedling 

 received. 



The following table showing the me- 

 chanical analysis of some different soils 



Nos. 27 and 54 are Connecticut valley 

 soils, in which fine particles predominate. 

 Nos. 9 and 17 are coast soils and espe- 

 cially suitable for market garden pur- 

 poses, and in particular for the growth 

 of head lettuce. Of the two soils, Nos. i) 

 and 17, we would consider No. 17 the bet- 

 ter adapted for lettuce, inasmuch aa 

 coarser constituents predominate to a 

 greater extent than in No. 9. However, 

 both soils are excellent for this purpose. 

 On the other hand, the Connecticut valley 

 soils, Nos. 27 and 54, will grow head let- 

 tuce after a fashion, but they are not by 

 any means so well suited to this crop. 

 These soils, on account of an excess of 

 very fine sand and silt, become compact 

 even when provided with a considerable 

 amount of organic matter. These soils, 

 moreover, do not contain a sufficient 

 amount of air space for the development 

 of lettuce. 



What is true of the Connecticut valley 

 soils is also true, as we understand it, of 

 the western soils, although the western 

 soils may not predominate in fine sanda 



Hatch Ex^ckihent SrATioN.or ths Mass. Aokicultural CoLircr 



TEZTUKE or A&UHOTOir LSTTUCB BOIL 

 Ho. 9 



,' ■ • '. .- , M*rrt». 0*--*\'ii . Si^o. Sfii. As»/Ci*'^ /*» i*> Gir***s *"'» So.! 



fO.OO 4.«6 thtO AM t i9M> 94.78 t l.K> HiS 



ITS 



fi 



HPl' flBU'HR 



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OS 05-51 ' 01- OOt 005-0001 



Showing the Mechanical Analysis of Soil Adapted to Growing Head Lettuce. 



in the east will illustrate what consti- 

 tutes a good lettuce soil and what is an 

 indifferent or poor one. One can obtain 

 a very good idea of the mechanical prop- 

 erties of a soil by considering the gravel, 

 coarse, medium and fine sand in one 

 series, and very fine sand, silt and clay 

 in another series by themselves. Where 

 the larger particles predominate, such as 

 gravel and sand, we have a good market 

 garden soil suitable for m-^st vegetables, 

 but where the finer particles predomi- 

 nate, fine sand, silt and clay, the soil is 

 not suitable for many vegetables. A soil 

 made up of coarse particles has not the 

 water retaining capacity that one has 

 composed of finer particles. 



but the silts and clays may be higher. 

 There are probably many places in the 

 west where a good, coarse, sandy soil 

 may be obtained, and with the addition 

 of large amounts of organic matter they 

 could no doubt be made suitable for 

 growing head lettuce. There are probably 

 no climatic conditions to hinder the grow- 

 ing of head lettuce in the west as suc- 

 cessfully as in the east. There are un- 

 doubtedly some difficulties arising 

 through lack of skill in handling the 

 crop, inasmuch as it cannot be expected 

 that the western gardeners, with much 

 less experience in growing head lettuce, 

 can compete at first with the eastern gar 

 doners who have practically created and 



TABLE SHOWING MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OP SOILS. 

 All Massachusetts soils except No. 17, which Is Rhode Island. 



No. i). ArlinKtoii. No. 17, Providence. No. 27, Amherst. No. 54, N. Hadley Soil. 



Organic matter lO.OO 



Gravel— 2-1 mm 4M 



Coarse sand— l-.5mm 11.10 



Medium sand— .5-.25 mm . . 3.95 



Fine sand— .25-.1 mm 19 50 



Very fine sand— .l-.05mm.34.75 



Silt-.05-.01 mm 2 10 



Fine silt-.01-.005 mm l.fiS 



Clay— .Oav-.OOOl mm 1.75 



