44 



■v^T^n »7'/i_f.,';rT(5r5f!f?ytsn -•, 



The Weekly Florists^ Reviewi^ 



Apbil 14, 1910. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



CHICAGO. April 12.— Cucumbeis, 75c to $1.25 

 doz. ; lettuce, 25c to 30c box; radishes, 25c to 

 65c dozen buncbes. 



BOSTON. April 11.— Bunch beets, $1.50 to $2 

 doz; cucumbers, $3 to |7 box; tomatoes, 35c 

 to 45c lb.; lettuce, 75c to $1 box; radishes, $2 

 to 12.25 box; bunch carrots, $1 to $1.25 doz.; 

 romalne, $1 to $1.25 doz.; rhubarb, 6c to 7c lb.; 

 escaroUe, 75c to $1 doz. ; mint, 50c to 75c doz. 



NEW YORK, April 11.— Beet tops steady. 

 Cauliflower in light supply. Cucumbers plenty 

 and dull. I^ettuce weak. Mushrooms steady. 

 Radishes selling fairly. Beet tops, 50c box; 

 cucumbers. 75c to $1 doz.; cauliflowers, $1.50 

 to $2.50 box of 12 to 14; lettuce, 20c to 40c 

 dozen heads; mint, 15c to 25c dozen bunches; 

 mushrooms, 15c to 40c lb.; radishes, $1 to 

 $2.25 hundred bunches; rhubarb, 25c to S5c 

 dozen bunches; tomatoes, 10c to 20c lb. 



DISEASES AND PREVENTION. 



[A paper by A. D. Selby, Botanist, Ohio Ag- 

 ricultural Experiment Station, Wooster, 0., read 

 at the Ashtabula convention of the Green- 

 house Vegetable Growers' Association.] 



Only the commoner forcing-house veg- 

 etables, such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucum- 

 bers, muakmelons, radishes and cauli- 

 flower, have been sufficiently studied un- 

 der greenhouse conditions to offer a basis 

 for discussion. I will limit myself to 

 these, and questions relating to diseases 

 of other crops for forcing may be pre- 

 sented if the need exists. 



But why do the diseases of greenhouse 

 vegetables stand out prominently! Why 

 should men of tlie forcing-house have 

 more danger from possible disease losses 

 than growers outdoors? Is there any 

 clear reason for forcing-house troubles 

 in great abundance! 



G>nditions and Practices Invite Diieaset. 



In outdoor vegetable growing^ rotation 

 is practiced somewhat after the custom 

 in general agriculture. "While I know 

 that rotation is locally not followed in 

 centers of vegetable growing, it is rather 

 generally practiced, Whatever violations 

 of the law of rotation may occur, rota- 

 tion is the necessity that may not be 

 passed. Continuous culture of intensive 

 crops leads to troublesome conditions, 

 even outdoors. Many instances may be 

 cited. Probably the celery grower, if he 

 is here, will not deny his recent diffi- 

 culties. San Joaquin county, California, 

 illustrates this in its intensive potato 

 culture upon the reclaimed tule or peat 

 lands in the deltas of the San Joaquin 

 and Sacramento rivers. In that district 

 potatoes are grown, or have been grown, 

 very extensively, the area reaching 25,- 

 000 acres. Yet, in recent years, by the 

 more or less continuous cropping, the 

 lands have become "potato sick" 

 through the accumulation of the fungus 

 of potato wilt, Fusarium oxysporum. 



Tho accumulation of soil parasites 

 might be called nature's method of plac- 

 ing a limit on man's continuous culture 

 of the same crop upon a given area of 

 land. When man violates this law, he 

 must reap the consequences. Soil infest- 

 ing parasites are very numerous and they 

 must inevitably become more numerous 

 and more destructive as our culture grows 

 older and our population increases in 



density. 



Now, the greenhouseman has antici- 

 pated, by a century or so, our population 

 density as expressed by cropping. He 

 constructs glass over considerable areas 

 and intensifies plant production. He 

 reaps profit from this because of the 

 growth of large cities and the American 

 habits of luxurious living throughout the 



■•^: 





A Business Book for Business Men 

 V Second Edition 



' 'TbolrottKhly Revised and BrouKbt 

 up to Date 



No dry-as-dast botanical olaBsifica- 

 tions, but tells yon jnst how to produce 

 marketable plants and cat flowers in 

 the best and cheapest way. 



Treats of over 200 subjects and is 

 freely illustrated with fine half-tone 

 engravings. 



Price, $5.00« prepaid hj express or mail. 



FLORISTS* PUBLISHING CO., Si^S.S^iS\ CHICAGO 



Vegetable Plants 



Per 100 1000 



Beet Plants |o:20 $1.25 



XBS: Plants 40 2.00 



Pepper Plants. Bull Nose, Sweet 



Mountain and Ruby King.; 40 2.00 



Tomatoes. Small plants, Earliana. 

 Early Jewel, Dwarf Stone, Cham- 

 pion, Ponderosa, and Matchless .30 2.00 



Tomatoes. Small plants, Stone. 

 Paragon, Favorit« and Success 20 1.00 • 



CASH WITH ORDER. 



R. Vincent, If, & Sons Co.,"^"^r"- 



Meption The Review when you write. 



season. • When the greenhouseman has 

 made &uch lai"ge investment as is repre- 

 sented by his acres of glass, his culture 

 conditions are highly intensive. Con- 

 tinuous culture in the same crops becomes 

 a law of the business. I do not need to 

 repeat that this law of greenhouse cul- 

 ture violates nature's law of rotation. 

 Inevitably there arise soil conditions of 

 disease which must be dealt with as an- 

 other part of the forcinghouse business. 



Soil Infecting Diseases to be Expected. 



These soil infesting diseases are to be 

 expected, because there is an accumula- 

 tion of parasites or parasitic organisms 

 which survive in the soil, and an entire 

 absence of adequate relief conditions such 

 as are offered by systematic rotation in 

 outdoor culture. I have already pointed 

 out in Circular No. 57 of the Ohio Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station what takes 

 place under conditions like those here at 

 Ashtabula. 



Your forcing houses are built upon 

 these a'reas of sand thrown up by Lake 

 Erie in past time. While locally the 

 sand may become enriched and darkened 

 in color by vegetable accumulations, espe- 

 cially in lower levels, the soils in your 

 benches are essentially the same. They 

 are derived from the old lake beach de- 

 posits and are very sandy in character. 

 This sandy character means not only a 

 high percentage of siliceous matter, but a 

 low amount of lime compounds. Further, 

 having such a soil, it is the custom to add 

 large amounts of rotted manure and to 

 practice continuous cultivation under 



With the Skinner Sys- 

 tem of Irrig:ation ONE 

 MAN can do the work 



of FORTY MEN 

 watering with a hose. 



The 



TROY, O. 



Mention The Review when you write. 



glass. This decomposing organic mat- 

 ter supplied by the manure produces con- 

 siderable amounts of acid compounds. 

 The sandy soil was acid to begin with, 

 and this increased acidity develops soil 

 conditions adapted to such organisms, 

 including both fungi and bacteria, as 

 love an acid soil. These organisms re- 

 quire an acid nidus. 



Little wonder, then, that either should 

 develop here in this region with a one- 

 sided soil flora. Most of you know what 

 this has meant in the past history of let- 

 tuce and cucumber growing in the lake 

 shore district. Elsewhere the greenhouse 

 problems have not been identical in char- 

 acter, unless the conditions were very sim- 

 ilar. The presence of higher amounts of 

 lime contained in the soil has checked 

 the movement toward an acid soil. Even 

 where this has been so, the greenhouse 

 troubles have changed simply in charac- 

 ter. They have not failed to appear. 



Parasites Develop in Acid Soils. 



While I believe that injurious or soil 

 inhabiting bacteria are developed in 

 great abundance in acid soils, the soil in- 

 festing fungus has been easiest found 

 and most often accused. I refer to the 

 sterile fungus of lettuce rosette, which 

 we also call Ehizoctonia. It has flour- 

 ished because the acid soil conditions are 

 suited to it, and once established, its 



