

.f*. 



26 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



OCTOBEtt 10, 1907. 



■ " .■'■■<■'/.■ 



Vegetable Forcing. 



THE GROWING OF VEGETABLES. 



(A paper by W. W. Rawson, of Boston, Mass.. 

 read before tbe Congress of Horticulture at 

 the Jamestown exposition, September 23, 1907.] 



The culture oi vegetables ia one of the 

 most interesting and profitable of the 

 many branches of agriculture, and from 

 the fact that the demand for fresh vege- 

 - tables is so great in our larger towns 

 and cities the growing of these crept 

 has become a business followed by man^ 

 situated near the large markets. The busi- 

 ness as carried on today is termed mar- 

 ket gardening, to distinguish it from the 

 old-fashioned farming. It requires a 

 vast amount of knowledge and experience 

 to be a successful market gardener, and 

 one must not only know how to grow, 

 but also what to grow. There are many 

 crops of vegetables which may be termed 

 annual products, but there are a num- 

 ber of varieties which may be grown 

 to a high point of perfection at all 

 seasons by the use of glass. 



The kitchen garden, as it is often 

 termed, includes many of these varieties 

 and especially those which are most 

 desired by the market gardener, namely, 

 lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, rad- 

 ishes, spinach, beets, celery, carrots, par- 

 snips, tomatoes, cauliflowers, squashes, 

 peas, beans and corn. 



A good many of these may be called 

 luxuries and are quite difficult to grow, 

 but there exists a large demand for 

 them in our larger cities and towns, and 

 those market gardeners who specialize in 

 the varieties mentioned and grow them 

 successfully have built up a business or 

 profession which is very profitable. 



Vegetables Under Glau* 



It is a well-known fact that it is 

 more difficult to grow crops in the field 

 than under glass and those who have 

 the best knowledge of the business grow 

 many of the finer vegetables inside. To 

 be successful it not only requires a large 

 capital and good land, but also a 

 thorough knowledge of the business. 

 While in field culture we use the land 

 for what it will produce with a little 

 cultivation and some fertilization, under 

 glass we use land as a machine, putting 

 into it such crops as we wish to produce 

 and using such fertilizers as each spe- 

 cial crop requires. As the manufacturer 

 puts into his machine the materials which, 

 with proper care and attention, turn 

 into the finished product, so it is with 

 the grower producing his crop from the 

 soil. 



The largest material necessary to pro- 

 duce any crop is moisture or water; con- 

 sequently no vegetable grower or mar- 

 ket gardener can succeed without an ir- 

 rigation plant. This is true in the field 

 as well as under glass, though under 

 glass the water can be regulated bet- 

 ter according to the requirements of 

 tbe crop, while in the field the rains are 

 often so heavy as to cause more damage 

 than benefit. 



The fertilizers are applied before the 

 crop is planted and as the crop to be 

 grown demands. 



The Complete Fertilizer. 



There is only one complete, perfectly 

 satisfactory fertilizer, and that is stable 

 manure, which is applied in such quan- 

 tities as the crops require. Wherever 

 stable manure cannot be obtained, it is 

 desirable to use some form of commercial 



A BED OF MUSHROOMS 



Raised from my Spawn, will b«ar looser and yield belter than from any other variety of 

 Spawn. Thla 1b proreB by facts. Full particulars and Information how to succeed In mushroom 

 raialnff free. We warrant you If uslnr our method of rrowlntr mushrooms that all will go well 



KNUD 6UNDESTRUP, 



Mnahroom 

 Specialist, 



4273 Milwaukee Ave., Chicago 



Mention Tbe Review when you write. 



Vegetable Growers Should 



Send 5 Dollars 



for a swivel wheel aud 20 >6-lDcb nozzles. It will 

 fit a run of 100 feet ol pipe and sive ycu a rbance 

 to try for yourselt th Wittbold Watering; 

 System, or send for circular of testimonials. 



The Wittbold Nozzle, for ^incb hose «I 00 



The Special Rose Nozzle 1.00 



Louis Wittbold, 1708 N. Halsted St., Chicago 



Mention The Beview when yon write. 



fertilizer possessing the required amount 

 of nitrogen and potash for that partic- 

 ular crop and soil, but for a general 

 fertilizer there is nothing equal to stable 

 manure. 



There is, however, another complete 

 fertilizer that has been used to some 

 extent during the last two or three years, 

 and that is sheep manure. "When used 

 as a top dressing for second crops in 

 the houses, I have found it to be very 

 satisfactory. It should be used spar- 

 ingly, however, and only in the pulverized 

 form, which hastens its availability. 

 Where it is impossible to obtain stable 

 manure, sheep manure may serve as a 

 substitute better than the commercial 

 fertilizer, as it is a complete manure, 

 possessing all the elements necessary for 

 plant life. 



Many wonder how the land can stand 

 so much stable manure, applied many 

 times a year and for many years without 

 a rest, but it does stand it and will pro- 

 duce the best of crops even after such 

 treatment has been continued for forty 

 or fifty years. 



In the greenhouses there are many in- 

 sects, weeds and fungi that get into 

 the soil and endanger the crop, but these 

 are eliminated by a system of steriliza- 

 tion, or cooking the soil to a tempera- 

 ture of 212 degrees. This process will 

 renovate the soil and produce astonish- 

 ingly large and perfect crops. 



After sterilizing and getting the 

 soil into perfect condition, with an ap- 

 plication of twenty to thirty cords of 

 manure the crop surely should grow, 

 with proper care and attention. All 

 crops require a certain amount of light, 

 heat, air and moisture, and it depends 

 wholly on the application of these four 

 items how well the crop will grow 

 and how perfectly it will mature. 



Electricity in the Greenhotise. 



During the short days of winter we 

 are deficient in light, but this can be 

 supplied by the use of electric arc lights, 

 which will quicken the crop about fifteen 

 per cent. 



The air should be always pure and so 

 regulated by ventilation as not to hurt 

 the growing crop by a draft. 



The heat is supplied by the sun and 

 by steam conducted from the boilers by 

 pipes to all portions of the houses. The 

 amount of steam can be regulated by 

 valves placed near the boilers, thus giv- 

 ing in each house the necessary amount. 

 Large boilers are required to produce 

 steam, at as low a pressure as possible, 

 to heat large territories of glass; that 

 is, by the acre. The use of hot water 

 is an ancient process to the modern mar- 



Fl GRISTS 



Have a splendid opportunity 

 of raising Mnsh.ooniaby 

 utilizing the wnsie spaoe 

 nndrr thf benrhea, and 

 then utilizing the « aMe ma- 

 terl- 1 of expended mush- 

 room b< ds in growing flowers. 

 Now is the time to malie your 

 beds. 



Lambert's Pure Cnltore 

 MVSHRUOM SPAWN, 

 the best Mushroom Spawn in the market, is sold by all 

 leading seedsmen. A fresh sanipln biick enough for 

 a small iria> bed, together with large illu&tratcd book 

 on_ 'JMuBhroona Ca>iar«>," will b< mailed post- 

 paid upon receipt of 40c in postage stamps. Address 

 American Spawn VompaDy,Ht. I aal, Uinii. 

 Mention The Review when you write. 



Skinner's Irrigation. 



For greenhouses, gardens and lawns. 

 Latest improved gasoline pumping out- 

 fits at low price. Estimates tumished 

 on request. Address, 



C. W. SKINNER, Troy, O. 



Mention The Review when yon write. 



ket gardener. When heating by steam 

 the pipes are placed three to four feet 

 above the surface of the soil, at such 

 distances apart as the desired tempera- 

 ture requires, and only enough pipes to 

 give the highest temperature required 

 in the coldest season. 



The moisture or water is supplied f ron> 

 pipes arranged similarly to the steam 

 pipes and used as the crops demand. 



I have spoken of the use of electricity 

 in the giving of light, but we have founh 

 that it is equally beneficial when ap- 

 plied to the soil by means of a current 

 passing through the soil from a battery 

 at each end of the bed and connected 

 with a wire. The circulation is mani- 

 fest through all the soil to a marked 

 degree. The amount of this has to bo- 

 tested at all points of the bed until tho 

 proper amount of current is obtained, 

 for if it is too high the crop will show 

 a forced growth. This experiment has 

 only just begun and when, we can regu- 

 late the current to that amount whicl) 

 is of the greatest benefit without forcing 

 the crop too much, it will prove of the 

 greatest value to the modern market 

 gardener. I have tried the experiment 

 in one of my houses in a bed 400 feet 

 long, and the difference in growth be- 

 tween that bed and one not treated was 

 quite marked. 



[To be continued.] 



Grundy Center, Ia. — Theodore Souers, 

 who has been in the business here for 

 ten years, has retired and sold his green- 

 houses to J. S. Polland, of Eldorado, for 

 removal to that place. 



Pueblo, C!ol. — Sometime during tbe 

 night of Thursday, September 19, G. 

 Fleischer's flower store was entered by 

 burglars and $15 was taken. An en- 

 trance was effected by prying the lock of 

 one of the rear windows, and the money 

 was obtained by making an opening i» 

 the bottom of the cash register. The 

 safe, the door of which had been left 

 open, contained no money, and the 

 papers in it were not molested. 



■ . Al^' fr^ . *«•. .^.Jk J, . * 



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