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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



July 1, 1909, 



No Grower off Vegetables under glass 



can affford to do without the 



Wittbold system off 



WATERING 



— because with it a boy can do as much as two 

 men can do in a whole day with the hose — and 

 do it better. 



The system is equally valuable outdoors, and 

 for many other crops besides vegetables — wher- 

 ever you need water. 



Send for our booklet — with testimonials — 

 read and you'll send in your order. 



E. H. HUNT, 



Exclusive Sales 

 Agent. 



Interior of a Cucumber House— By meann of the swivel wheel 

 the pipe can be turned to spray iu any direction. 



76 78 Wabash Ave., CHICAGO 



Mention The Review when you write. 



natural force of resistance. Grown un- 

 der favorable circumstances, such a strain 

 appears perfect, but let it be planted 

 under adverse conditions and it cannot 

 succeed, but easily succumbs to any dis- 

 ease to which the plant is subject. 



Due Respect to Mother Nature. 



The effort, therefore, on the part of 

 the grower to secure perfection must 

 recognize as one of the elements of per- 

 fection a strong constitution, and any 

 effort which fails to recognize the fact 

 that each plant is an individual will 

 probably end in failure. We find, there- 

 fore, that while Nature sfeems to have 

 decreed that men may maintain the use- 

 fulness of a variety only by means of 

 selection of parent stocks, she seems also 

 to have ruled that such selection shall 

 be made only in conformity with certain 

 rules which she has established and writ- 

 ten in the fields for close observers. 



In general it may be said that the 

 color of the leaf gives a good indication 

 of the healthfulness and vitality of the 

 plant. I have particularly noticed that 

 every strain bred to a point where vital- 

 ity has weakened, has a smooth leaf in 

 which a yellowish tinge has replaced the 

 deeper shade which should indicate health 

 and vigor. It is, I think, much easier to 

 breed a smooth-leafed variety to a given 

 point than one which has a blistered or 

 ruflfled leaf; the tendency to variation is 

 not so marked in the smooth-leafed va- 

 riety and its individuality is not so strik- 

 ingly shown. Among such cabbages the 

 efforts to improve must be largely in the 

 direction of healthfulness. I do not de- 

 sire to speak of the merits or demerits 

 of different varieties except by way of 

 illustration, but in order to more clearly 

 understand this point I will say that it 

 is some years since we have been able to 

 produce a crop of Stone Mason cabbage 

 on Long Island which would pay ex- 

 penses at double the price at which it 

 was sold. To my mind, the best strains 

 have been overbred and, while the va- 

 riety has by no means been lost, the 

 handsomest specimens fail to produce 

 seed, but rot away, apparently from lack 

 of vitality. 



Inability to Resist Disease. 



Some strains of Danish Ball Head, 

 one of our most popular varieties, have 

 been bred to a point which may be 

 looked on with apprehension and the 

 need of an effort to secure greater vi- 

 tality in the strain is to my mind im- 

 perative. I have seen strains of Early 

 Jersey Wakefield, beautiful in appear- 

 ance so long as conditions of growth are 

 ideal, yet failing utterly when attacked 

 by any disease to which the plant is 

 subject. This is the more unfortunate 

 because the enemies of the cabbage are 

 particularly hard to combat; we can, of 

 course, poison bugs and worms, but no 

 one wants poisoned cabbage heads for 

 home consumption. Although it has been 

 the subject of extended investigation, no 

 one has yet given me a practical remedy 

 for what is called black rot of the cab- 

 bage, but I know that the most healthy 

 strains will resist it to the extent of pro- 

 ducing a crop, even though the field be 

 infested with the disease to an extent 

 which will cause failure in a less vig- 

 orous one. 



Now, so far as both seed grower and 

 seed dealers are concerned, we all have 

 an identical interest; we all want the 

 best seed we can possibly obtain at the 

 lowest possible price. We do not want 

 a strain which shows no jeffort at im- 

 provement, in which a natural, wild 

 growth predominates, even though that 

 wild growth may indicate great health- 

 fulness and disease-resisting power; nor 

 do we want a type bred with so much 

 singleness of purpose as to destroy its 

 vitality. 



I fear that this convention will be un- 

 able to determine the actual limitations 

 of men in that direction, and that the 

 actual solution of the problem in all its 

 complexities will have to be left to a 

 conference between the cabbage seed 

 growers and cabbages in the fields next 

 autumn. 



Oklwein, Ia. — Charles Hancock, who 

 for some years has been at the head of 

 the C. G. W. greenhouse, has decided to 

 begin business on his own account and 

 has purchased a tracit of land for that 

 purpose. 



There are no Dry Spots 



with The Skinner System 

 of Garden and Greenhouse 

 Irrigation. :^==^=^^^= 



The Skinner Irrigation Co. 



TROT, O. 



Meutiou rtie Keview when you write. 



Vegetable Plants 



PARSUBT-Sl 25 per 1000. 

 CABBAOK— Field-Rrrown, all leading varie- 

 ties, $1.00 per 1000; 10,000 and over, 85c per 1000. 



CXLXRT— White Plume, Golden Self Blanch- 

 ing and Giant Pascal, $1.00 per 1000. 



■GG PLANT-N. Y. Improved and Black 

 Beauty, $3.00 per 1000. 



LirrTUCK-Big Boston, Boston Market, Ten- 

 nis Ball and Grand Rapids, $1.00 per 1000. 



FKPPKR8-Ruby King. Bull Nose. Sweet 

 Mountain and Neapolitan, $2.00 per 1000. 

 Chinese Giant and Cayenne, SOc per 100. 



Cash with order. 



R, Vincent, Jr., & Sons Co ,""■;?."■■• 



Vegetable Forcing. 



LETTUCE. 



I am mixing soil, a clay loam, for let- 

 tuce. What manure and fertilizer would 

 you advise adding to same, and in what 

 proportion? When should I sow leaf let- 

 tuce to get crops off about Thanksgiving! 



J. M. 



Lettuce likes a loose soil better than a 

 clay soil. You can make your clay loam 

 soft and loose by adding a portion of 

 sand to the mixture. The manure for fer- 

 tilizer will also help loosen up the soil. 



