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Sbptiimbeb 3, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



25 



V^etable Forcing. 



AMONG MARKET GARDENERS. 



Little Britain, N. Y., is the garden 

 spot of Orange county and abounds with 

 market gardens, the bulk of the product 

 finding its way to the New York mar- 

 kets. Owing to the continued drought, 

 some kinds of veget3,ble8 have yielded 

 short crops. 



Stephen Murphy, one of the largest 

 gardeners in this section, tells me it is 

 Qot unusual for his soil to produce 1,200 

 bushels of onions to the acre, the variety 

 being Yellow Globe Danvers. Chantenay 

 is the favorite carrot, both for size and 

 yield. Earliana is the best tomato for 

 first crops. A patch yielded 1,500 bas- 

 kets, which sold at $1.10 per basket, 

 fruit weighing one and one-quarter 

 pounds apiece not being unusual. In- 

 tensive culture is carried out and the re- 

 sults obtained are highly satisfactory. 

 The culture of tobacco is being taken up 

 here. A very early variety introduced 

 from Bussia will be given a good trial. 

 It is strongly recommended, owing to its 

 fineness of texture and early ripening 

 qualities. 



Homer Williams is another who has 

 made a success by raising specialties. 

 The tomatoes June Pink and Dwarf 

 Champion are his leaders. For flavor and 

 productiveness they are hard to beat. 



Ephraim Titus, of The Hermitage, 

 showed me a sample of the White Mex- 

 ican sweet corn, a variety quite new to 

 this locality, introduced from Iowa. It 

 is deliciously sweet and has a large cob, 

 with kernels well arranged. 



. Tighe Bros, are large growers of cel- 

 ery. Golden Self -Blanching, true Paris 

 stock, is the leader, with Giant Pascal a 

 close second. M. 



FORONG TOMATOES. 



fA paper by Prof. W. S. Blair, of Macdonalrt 

 College, Quebec, read before the Canadian Hor- 

 ticultural Association, In convention at Niagara 

 Falls, Ont., August 19 and 20, 1908.] 



It is doubtful whether tomato forcing 

 as a distinct business can be profitably 

 conducted in Canada. I think, however, 

 that tomatoes can often be profitably 

 worked in as a spring crop after some 

 of the commonly grown greenhouse crops 

 are past their best. It was with this 

 thought in mind that work with tomatoes 

 under gl^ss was taken up at the Mac- 

 donald College. 



I might state at the outset that our 

 experience at the present time is too lim- 

 ited to state exactly how much gain 

 there is in this, and to what extent it 

 can be carried on with profit to follow 

 chrysanthemums, violets, carnations, let- 

 tuce or radish, which, we think, are the 

 principal crops with which such a prac- 

 tice can be followed to advantage. When 

 your secretary asked me to prepare this 

 paper I was inclined to say "No," for 

 the reason that more experience is neces- 

 sary to speak definitely on this point, 

 especially as the latter part of the violet 

 and carnation crop has to be sacrificed 

 in order to give the tomato plants an 

 «arly start. 



Necessary Cart md Attention. 



On the other hand, the attention and 

 care necessary to make this business a 

 success can be as well brought out in 

 this address as in one where a greater 

 mass of detail, showing exact returns, is 



A BED OF MUSHROOMS 



Raised from our Spawn, will bear longer and yield better tban from any other variety of 

 Spawn. This is proven by facts. Full particulars and iuformatlon how to succeed in mushroom 

 raising free. We warrant you, if using our method of growing mushrooms, that all will go well. 



KIRKEBY&6UNDESTRUP SEED GO., 4273 Milwaukee A«e.,GhicagO 



MUSHROOM SPKCIALJSTS 



Mention The Review when you write. 



USE ANGLO-AMERICAN MUSHROOM SPAWN 



Made direct from spores of selected specimens; nature's way of producing spawn. This 

 spawn is made by an expert and will be used exclusively this season by the largest grower of 

 mushrooms in the United States. It will please you If you want the best. 



FREE SAMPLE BRICK TO GROWERS AND DEALERS 



ANGLO-AMERICAN SPAWN CO., KENNETT SQUARE, PA. 



Mention The Review when you write. 



Vegetable Plants 



CABBAGE 



Wakefield and Bucoeaalon, 25c per 100, 

 $1.00 per 1000. 



LETTUCE 



Boston Market, Tennis Ball and Grand 

 Rapids, 25c per 100; $1.00 per 1000. 



R.YIMCENTJr.&SOilSCO.r"«""" 



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at hand. For, after all, whether this 

 business is a profitable one or not de- 

 pends largely upon the ability of the 

 man and the time and care he puts into 

 the business, and his facilities for bring- 

 ing along the plants to the time when 

 they are required for setting into the 

 benches. One thing is sure, they can- 

 not be grown profitably without atten- 

 tion, and if the idea is to run this crop 

 in as one to receive attention only after 

 everything else is done, it will not prove 

 a profitable business. 



For much of the data presented in this 

 paper I am indebted to my former as- 

 sistant. Prof. V. E. Gardner, now hor- 

 ticulturist of the Maine State College, 

 and especially to our eflScient greenhouse 

 manager, A. H. Walker. 



Difficulties of Winter Forcing. 



It is possibly not necessary for me to 

 state that the winter forcing of tomatoes 

 is much more difficult than the spring 

 forcing. The tomato loves light and 

 heat, and to ripen its fruit during the 

 dark days of midwinter, when sunlight 

 is not only scarce but not strong enough 

 to clear the glass of its heavy coating 

 of frost, is no easy proposition. For this 

 reason it is doubtful to what extent T^in- 

 ter forcing can be carried on. This 

 point we aim to work out, and experi- 

 ments to that end are now in progress. 

 Our first planting has just been made 

 into permanent beds, hoping to have our 

 fruit well formed by December, depend- 

 ing largely upon heat alone for ripening. 

 This phase of the question, however, is 

 not the purpose of this paper, and there- 

 fore the spring forcing problem and how 

 it can be worked to follow other crops 

 is what I wish especially to deal with. 



Our houses are of the King construc- 

 tion, twenty-one and one-half feet in 

 span and seven feet to the gutter. The 

 plants should have four and one-half to 

 five feet of head room at least; there- 

 fore the crop cannot be worked into 

 some low houses profitably. Our houses 

 run east and west. We have a four- 

 span house. These houses are divided by 

 a glass partition and a walk runs cross- 

 wise of the house, with glass partitions 



L 



With the Skinner Sys- 

 tem of Irrigation ONE 

 MAN can do the work 



of FORTY MEN 

 watering with a hose. 



The Skinner Irrigation Co. 



TROY, O. 



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FLORISTS hare a tpleiidid oppor- 

 tunity of raisinc Mnahrooms by 

 utilizing the waate apaoe under the 

 benches, and then utiluiiy the waste 

 material of expendea muihroom 

 bed* in growing flowers. Liambert's 

 Pure Coltnre BIUSHBOOBI 

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

 leading seedsmen. A fresh sample brick, enougn for 

 a trialbed, together with illustrated book on "Maah- 

 room Culture," will be mailed postpaid upon receipt 

 of 40o in postage stamps. Address Ainerloan 

 Spawn Company, St. Panl, Minn. 



Mention The Review when you write. 



SWANSON'S 



New varieties of Mush- 

 room Spawn is the best 

 Spawn on the market. 

 Write for price list and 

 book about Mushrooms. 



Paul Sw^anson, 



2743 W. 47tb St.. 



CHICAGO 



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at each side. We have, ip all, four 

 38-foot and four 58-foot houses, each 

 under control. Briefly, our aim is to de- 

 velop crops on a commercial scale in 

 these houses and at the same time work 

 out problems similar to the one under 

 discussion. 



The soil used for tomatoes was made 

 up of a medium light loam sod, piled in 

 the summer, into which one-quarter its 

 bulk of stable manure was put, and the 

 whole cut down and mixed before put- 

 ting into the benches. The soil in the 

 benches was six inches deep. 

 (To be continued.) 



Fargo, N. D. — A large souvenir postal 

 card, giving a bird 's-eye view of the city, 

 shows the favorable location of the Shot- 

 well Floral Co., and the firm is sending 

 them out as an advertisement. 



Portland, Me. — Work is well ad- 

 vanced on the new greenhouse for J. W. 

 Minott & Son. The house will be used 

 for general plants and will be one of the 

 most modern on the Minott property. 



