430 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



January 4, 1906. 



GREINER AND THE CACTL 



The wider of the accompanying illus- 

 trations is from a photograph showing 

 A. G. Greiner, of St. Louis, in one of his 

 houses of cacti. Trade visitors in St. 

 Louis in the past year or two have in- 

 variably been attracted to Mr. Greiner 's 

 exhibits of his cacti. At the St. I^ouis 

 World's Fair his exhibit was one of the 

 most attractive, and at the World's Fair 

 flower show he received a medal award. 

 At the S. A. F. convention his table in 

 the trade exhibit was one of the novel 

 features. There are at St. Louis many 

 admirers of the cactus, and a large trade 

 is done in this specialty by several St. 

 Louis florists. Mr. Greiner has one of 

 the largest collections in the country, in- 

 cluding many novelties. The second il- 

 lustration is from a photograph, which 

 he says is * ' the only Euphorbia uatalen- 

 sis cristata of its kind so far known 

 in the world. ' ' He has sought widely 

 for its mate, but thus far has been un- 

 successful. 



GROWING CROPS UNDER GLASS. 



[The continuation of a paper by B. T. Gallo- 

 way, Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 reprinted in the Review of December 28, from 

 the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 

 where it was one of several papers under the 

 general head, "Opportunities In Agriculture."] 



Vegetable Growing. 



Vegetable growing as a specialty is 

 more profitable near the larger cities. Cit- 

 ies ranging in size from 25,000 in popu- 



and that there can be a demand for 

 special crops in large communities only. 

 Since the rapid extension of vegetable 

 growing in the south and the better fa- 

 cilities for the shipment of such cropa 

 as lettuce, cucumbers, etc., the field for 

 the growth of vegetables under glass has 

 been considerably restricted. There are 

 still good opportunities here, however, 

 and the larger the city the more chances 

 there are for success. The grower in 

 this case can sell his own crops, or he 

 can sell them through a commission 

 merchant or wholesale dealer in the city 

 or cities to which his locality is tribu- 

 tary. 



In this work larger areas of land are 

 required. From one to five acres will 

 answer the purpose, but for a large 

 business ten acres or even as many as 

 twenty acres may be necessary. The na- 

 ture and character of the soil play an 

 important part, and the grower should 

 be in a situation to control the soil so 

 far as possible; that is, he should not 

 be so placed as to have to purchase his 

 soil, which is an expensive item in 

 itself, as this takes out of his hands to 

 a certain extent the possibility of con- 

 trolling conditions. In the growth of 

 such crops a quick, early-maturing soil 

 is absolutely essential. By this is meant 

 a soil readily adaptable to cultivation, 

 that contains comparatively little clay, 

 and that holds moisture readily and yet 

 dries out quickly; in other words, a 



Euphorbia Natalensis Cristata. 



lation upward are the ones which should 

 be considered in this connection. The 

 reasons for this have already been briefly 

 alluded to, but may again be referred to 

 here. They are, chiefly, that vegetable 

 growing must necessarily be specialized 



good, rich garden loam. The soil under 

 glass must be changed every year and 

 sometimes more than once a year. It 

 is essential, therefore, to have opportu- 

 nities for replenishing the soil without 

 too much expense. 



The chief crops that may be grown 

 are lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. 

 As incidental crops, mushrooms, beets 

 diandelions, cauliflowers, etc., may be 

 used. Lettuce and cucumbers, however, 

 constitute nine-tenths of the crops that 

 are grown in this way, and, all things 

 considered, are more profitable than 

 anything else in this field. 



In beginning a work of this nature 

 it is essential to consider the fact that 

 when a start is made it will have to be 

 on such a scale as to enable the grower 

 to produce crops not only of good qual- 

 ity, but in suflScient quantity to pay a 

 dealer to handle them. This is espe- 

 cially true if the grower depends on 

 commission merchants or wholesale deal- 

 ers to market his products. The first 

 essential is to grow good crops; the 

 second is to produce them in such quan- 

 tities that the demand when once 

 created will not fail for lack of supply. 

 Many beginners make the fatal mis- 

 take of starting in such a way that they 

 cannot develop a good business for the 

 reason that the supply of their product 

 is not constant. The commission mer- 

 chant or the wholesale dealer depends 

 on a constant supply to build up his 

 trade and if he cannot depend on the 

 grower, he, of course, cannot afford to 

 give as high prices as where the quan- 

 tity to be had is constant. 



Lettuce, for example, is grown under 

 glass usually from October until March, 

 three crops being produced in this time. 

 The first crop should be on the market 

 by Thanksgiving day or earlier, and 

 there should be a steady supply through 

 the rest of the season until the middle 

 of March. If the grower, having pro- 

 duced a good product, has found a 

 ready market for it, he will lose it if 

 for any reason his supply stops for a 

 week or ten days or two weeks during 

 the actual season of demand. This will 

 hold true for all other crops. 



To start in work of this kind on the 

 basis of five acres would require some- 

 thing like the following as an outlay: 



Five acres of land at |250 per acre $1,250 



One greenhouse, 20x100 feet 1,200 



Hotbed, sash and miscellaneous equip- 

 ment 650 



Total $3,000 



The intelligent grower, conducting his 

 work in a proper manner, planning well 

 and using good business methods, should 

 be able to secure from this amount of 

 land and glass a gross income of from 

 $2,000 to $3,000 annually, or a net in- 

 come of from $1,500 to $2,000. 



Cut Flower Growing. 



Cut flower growing is the most profit- 

 able field in the growing of plants 

 under glass. It is most profitable for 

 the reason that there is a greater de- 

 mand for cut flowers than for vege- 

 tables, and while the risks in some cases 

 are greater the profits are correspond- 

 ingly large. The work in this field may 

 be of two kinds, the growing of mixed 

 crops, or specialization with one crop 

 alone. 



By mixed crops is meant the growing 

 of three or more crops of flowers, such 

 as roses, carnations, violets and chrys- 

 anthemums. In this field the best open- 

 ings are to be found near cities with a 

 population of from 10,000 to 50,000. 

 There is always a demand in cities of 

 this size for cut flowers, and this de- 

 mand is frequently increased if there 

 are any special institutions in or near 



