46 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Apnir. 21, 1010. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



CHICAGO, April 19.— Cucumbers, 75c to $1.25 

 .doz.; lettuce, 20c to 25c bos; radishes, 15c to 

 40c dozcu buuchcs. 



NEW YORK, April 18.— Cucumbers, 7."5c to 

 41.12 doz. ; mint, 15c to 25c dozen buncljes; 

 mushrooms, 15c to 40c lb.; radishes, J1.50 to 

 42.25 hundred bunches. 



BOSTON, April 18. — Rhubarb from local out- 

 •door growers Is now arriving. Cucumbers and 

 tomatoes are both selling well. Trade generally 

 is good. Cucumbers, $4 to $8 box; tomatoes, 

 .30c to 40c lb.; lettuce, 75c to $1.25 box; rad- 

 Jsbes, $1.50 to $1.75 box; romalne, $1 to $1.25 

 4loz. ; escaroUe, 75c to $1 doz.; rhubarb, 4c to 

 .5c lb.; bunch beets, $1.50 to $2 doz.; bunch 

 .carrots, 50c to 75c doz.; beet greens, 75c to $1 

 iwx; mint, 50c to 60c doz.; mushrooms, $1.25 

 J:o $2 basket; parsley, $1.25 box. 



DISEASES AND PREVENTION. 



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

 iCultural Experiment Station, Wooster, C, read 

 At the Ashtabula convention of the Greenhouse 

 Vegetable Growers' Association. Continued from 

 the Review of April 14.] 



Soil Treatment Under Glass. 



Especially in soils like this of our 

 Ohio beach sands type, it is advisable to 

 make applications of ground limestone or 

 other form of lime, to increase the 

 .amount of this base in the soil. In ad- 

 dition to liming, whatever applications 

 of manure are contemplated should be 

 inade before the soil is treated. 



"When all this preliminary work is 

 over, we are ready for the actual treat- 

 ment. Two methods are available; 

 namely, steaming the soil and drenching 

 the soil with formaldehyde. 



Where we have to deal with eelworms, 

 nematodes, steaming is the one effective 

 remedy. For lettuce rot or drop, steam- 

 ing is also a superior method. For the 

 fungus of lettuce rosette, rhizoctonia, 

 which also causes rosette and leaf-curl 

 in tomatoes, as well as small leaves with 

 leaf-curling in cucumbers, either soil 

 steaming or the formaldehyde drench is 

 available. 



Soil steaming is a practice involving 

 special preparation and considerable ex- 

 pense. Essentially it consists in bury- 

 ing a series of perforated pipes in the 

 soil, placed at regular intervals, covering 

 the surface of the beds, and passing live 

 steam in sufficient volume into the pipes. 

 In this work either high pressure steam 

 or low pressure steam, generated in hot 

 water boilers, may be employed. The 

 success of the steaming will depend upon 

 the amount of the steam in the pipes, 

 including the pressure and the length of 

 time the treatment continues, since the 

 soil temperature will determine the re- 

 sult. 



Before treating with either method, 

 And especially before steaming, it is es- 

 sential that the soil should be in good 

 .condition of tilth. If the soil is per- 

 mitted to become dry, it must be treated 

 -with water and brought back into proper 

 .condition, or uneven results may be ex- 

 pected. 



Details of Bed Steaming. 



The steaming method seems to consist, 

 At its best, of a system or set of per- 

 forated pipes, with crosshead and boiler 

 connections. These pipes are connected 

 and buried in the soil of the bed, either 

 with or without partial banking up of 

 the soil; the surface of the bed is then 

 .covered with canvas and the steam 

 passed into the system for such period 

 as is required to heat the soil to the 

 cecessary temperature. This tempera- 



ture, for oest results, is 180 to 212 de- 

 grees, maintained for a period of an hour 

 or more. The time required to attain 

 this teniperature will vary with the 

 boiler area, pressure and other steam and 

 soil factors. 



This bed method has replaced the 

 former one of a box withv steam pipes, 

 into which the soil was transferred. 



The length of pipes of the system will 

 be adapted to the beds, being, say, one- 

 half or one-third the total length of large 

 beds. The size of the perforations in the 

 pipes is apportioned to the area of the 

 supply pipe. 



R. W. Griswold, Jr., of Ashtabula, O., 

 employs four bed pipes, an inch and a 

 half in diameter and eighty feet long; 

 in these i^-inch holes are made in 

 straight lines, one foot apart. The head 

 pipe and main to the boiler are two 

 inches in diameter and the boiler is 100 

 horse-power. The beds are five feet wide 

 and in these the pipes are evenly dis- 

 tributed by trenching. He starts at 

 eighty pounds of pressure for one hour 

 and then drops to sixty pounds. 



On a low pressure boiler, B. H. Thome, 

 of Wooster, 0., uses four pipes, an inch 

 and a quarter in diameter, in 10-foot 

 sections, with i4-inch holes four inches 

 apart; 1^4 -inch head, with the pipes ten 

 inches apart. These pipes are trenched 

 in about one-half the width of the bed; 

 this area is banked up at the sides with 

 boards and the remainder of the soil 

 thrown upon it, thus increasing the 

 depth before covering and turning on 

 steam. In this manner about four to 

 five hours are required to steam soil as 

 above, with about six to seven pounds of 

 pressure from hot water heating boilers; 

 this soil is left covered over night. Ow- 

 ing to the great size of the holes in the 

 pipes, blowing out often occurs and even 

 heating is at times difficult to secure. 

 Smaller holes in the bed pipes would 

 serve better. 



Method of Formaldehyde Drench. 



Before applying the formaldehyde 

 drench, the soil is prepared as hereto- 

 fore described, by bringing it into proper 

 conditions of tilth, incorporating all 

 manures to be applied and spading up 

 the benches in proper manner to receive 

 the drench. Just at the end of the forc- 

 ing season, when the soil is still fairly 

 well moistened, will be a good time for 

 applying the drench. When ready, it is 

 recommended to treat with formaldehyde 

 drench at the rate of one gallon of the 

 preparation to each square foot of the 

 surface. The strength recommended is 

 from one to 1,000 to one to 2,000— four 

 pints or pounds of formalin in fifty gal- 

 lons of water for the strong treatment, 

 and two pints in fifty gallons of water 

 for the weaker. Often when the weaker 

 drench has been satisfactory in checking 

 lettuce rosette, it has not killed the or- 

 ganism and it still attacks cucumbers. 

 The strength of three to four pints in 

 fifty gallons has been more satisfactory 

 under these circumstances. 



The application may be made by any 

 sprinkling device, such as spray pump, 

 sprinkling can, or, in the case of large 

 houses, through the Skinner watering 

 pipes. It will usually be advisable to 

 apply the liquid at intervals a few hours 

 apart, until the whole amount has been 

 taken up by the soil. After such a heavy 

 wetting down the soil needs to lie with- 

 out planting for about two weeks, with 

 stirring after a few days. If young 

 seedlings are set in such soil too soon 



Vegetable Planten 



Per 100 lOOO 



Beet Plants |0.20 $1.25 



Kkk Plants 40 2.00 



Pepper Plants. Bull Nose, Sweet 



Mountain and Ruby King 40 2.0O 



Tomatoes. Small plants, Earliana. 

 Early Jewel, Dwarf Stone, Cham- 

 pion, Poiiderosa, and Matchless 30 2.00 



Tomatoes. Small plants. Stone, 

 Paragon, Favorite and Success 20 1.00 



Cabbasre. Full liist of leading varieties, 20c per 

 100 : $1.00 per 1000; 10,000 and over. 85c per 1000. 



Lettuce. Grand Rapids, Big Boston, Boston 

 Market and Tennis Ball, 20c per 100; fl.OO per 

 1000 ; 10,000 and over, 85c per 1000. 



CASH WITH OBDER. 



R.Vincent, Jr., &Son$Co.,''"M"^'' 



Mention The Review when you write. 



THE cost of labor saved 

 * in six months will buy 

 and install a Skinner Sys- 

 tem of Greenhouse Irri- 

 gation. 



The Skinner Irrigation Go. 



TROY. O. 



Mention The Review when you write. 



they will perish, owing to the presence 

 of the formalin. 



It is believed that this strength of 

 formalin treatment will be entirely ef- 

 fective against rhiaoctonia upon either 

 lettuce or tomatoes, and it is expected 

 to be satisfactory in checking lettuce rot. 

 Some diflSculty attends the heavy wetting 

 down of the beds between crops in mid- 

 winter. For this treatment one and one- 

 half pints to fifty gallons was the 

 strength employed last winter. This 

 gave entirely satisfactory results with the 

 rhizoctonia, but did not, as before stated, 

 with the lettuce rot, botrytis. 

 (To be continued.) 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



["Success in Market Gardening," by Herbert 

 Rawson, Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 

 $1.20 postpaid.] 



The original edition of "Success in 

 Market Gardening," written by W. W. 

 Bawson, was published in 1892. It was 

 so helpful that it ran through a number 

 of editions and Mr. Bawson was at work 

 upon a rewriting at the time of his 

 death in 1908. The present volume is 

 by his son and describes the latest ad- 

 vances in methods of market gardening 

 practiced at Arlington, where are the 

 Bawson market gardens. In his preface 

 Mr. Bawson says, among other things: 

 ' ' In 1907, a year before his death, my 

 father fully appreciated the fact that 

 any further edition of his work would 

 have to be thoroughly revised in many 

 important details, especially with re- 

 gard to varieties of vegetables at pres- 

 ent under cultivation. With this in 

 mind, he had actually started rewriting 

 the book, doing it in a leisurely way as 

 opportunity offered. It is a keen regret 

 to me that he did not live to complete his 

 labors; death overtook him before he had 

 done much beyond making a number of 

 miscellaneous notes and amendments. 



"I have, therefore, undertaken this 

 task of revision in a sense of filial duty 



