58 



TlieWecIdy Flwists* Review. 





Mabch 4, 1909, 



Vegetable Forciflg. 



GREENHOUSE VEGETABLES. 



Chicago, March 2. — Cucumbers, 75c to $1.85 

 doz. ; lettuce, 30c to 32%c doz. ; radishes, 25c to 

 50c doz. bunches; mushrooms, 40c to 50c lb. 



New York, March 1.— Beet tops, 75c to $1 

 box; cucumbers, 75c to $2 doz.; lettuce, $1.60 

 to $1.75 strap; mushrooms, 30c to 55c lb.; mint, 

 50c to 65c doz. bunches; radishes, $2 to $3.50 

 per 100 bunches; rhubarb, 30c to 60c doz.; toma- 

 toes, 15c to 35c lb. 



Boston, March 1.— Bunch beets, $2.50 to $3 

 doz.; bunch carrots, 25c to 50c doz.; radishes, 

 $1.25 to $1.50 box; dandelions, $1.50 to $1.75 

 box; tomatoes, 40c to 60c lb.; cucumbers, $5 to 

 S16 box; beet greens, GOc to 75c box; lettuce, 

 50c to $1 box; mint, 60c to 75c doz.; romalne, 

 75c to $1 doz.; chicory, $1.50 doz.; escaroUe, 

 rhubarb, 12c lb. 



STARTING CUCUMBERS INSIDE. 



When is the best time to plant cucum- 

 ber seed in the greenhouse to have the 

 plants ready for the field, and what is 

 the proper care for them? Is it better to 

 sow the seed and transplant into 4-inch 

 pots or to plant the seed in the pots? 

 I can get good, sandy sod, but, as I want 

 them extra early, I thought of starting 

 them in the greenhouse first and trans- 

 planting into the field. I am located in 

 Indiana. W. C. W. 



The time for planting the^seed should 

 be three to four weeks before you can 

 plant tender plants out in the field. In 

 your locality I believe you plant tender 

 hothouse plants out early in May, but 

 farther north it is not safe to put out 

 tender plants until Decoration day. It 

 is an excellent plan to plant the seed 

 in flats, lift them carefully as soon as 

 up and pot them into 4-inch pots, two in 

 a pot. If the night temperature cannot 

 well be kept above 60 degrees, it will 

 take four weeks from the date of plant- 

 ing the seed, but in 65 to 68 degrees they 

 wiU be ready to plant out in three weeks. 



A piece of sandy sod ground, properly 

 prepared, makes the finest kind of soil 

 for cucumbers. The plants should not be 

 planted the old way, with four in a hill. 

 They do much better in rows, two plants 

 in a place, two or two and one-half 

 feet apart. 



The greatest diflSculty .in using hot- 

 house-grown plants is that they are liable 

 to be too tall and soft and be ruined the 

 first day or two outside. Therefore, it is 

 better to g^ow them cool, well ventilated 

 and not too wet. Take pots and all to 

 the field, remove the plants carefully, and 

 plant and water them immediately and 

 carefully. It is best to select a warm, 

 still day and plant late in the day. They 

 will be revived before the next morning 

 and stand the removal much better. A 

 second watering may be necessary. Plant 

 some seed at the same time, so that if 

 part of the plants do not grow you will 

 have some from seed to take their places, 

 and you can hoe off all that are not 

 wanted later. H. G. 



INSECTS ON CAULIFLOWER. 



I have cauliflower, just beginning to 

 head, on which there are black mites 

 about as thick as hairs and about one- 

 eighth of an inch long. Will they injure 

 the heads of cauliflower, and what will 

 destroy the pests t I have a house six- 

 teen feet high at the ridge, six feet at 

 the gutter and fifty feet wide, planted 

 in lettuce. The house is now running at 

 42 to 45 degrees at night and 65 degrees 

 on clear days. By leaving the ventilators 

 open to insure a good circulation of air, 



would it be well to put on a few degrees 

 more heat, making the temperature 50 to 

 53 degrees at night and 70 degrees on 

 clear days, to push the lettuce along a"" 

 little faster? E. B. 



I have never had any experience with 

 these insects, but understand that they 

 are very injurious to the cauliflower 

 plants in some localities, especially in 

 seasons when there are not many rain 

 storms, which seem to destroy so many 

 of them that they do not get numerous 

 enough to do much harm. 



Do not use any arsenical poisons; that 

 would be dangerous business. I think 

 that the small compressed-air sprayers, 

 which hold about three gallons of insecti- 

 cide, would be good to use on the cauli- 

 flower, filling the sprayer with some of 

 the nicotine or tobacco liquid insecticides. 

 A very weak solution will kill all the in- 

 sects that are wet with it from the fine 

 spray nozzle. These sprayers are an ex- 

 cellent thing for all gardeners to have. 

 The can is filled about two-thirds full of 

 dope, then closed up and pumped up with 

 a bicyle-tire pump, compressing the air 

 so that when the trigger is pulled the 

 pressure forces all the liquid out through 

 the small hose and nozzle. 



Perhaps some reader who has had ex- 

 perience in exterminating these cauli- 

 flower insects can give E. B. a better 

 remedy. 



As to the lettuce temperature, I would 

 advise 45 to 50 degrees as the best night 

 temperature, and 65 degrees on bright 

 days when well ventilated. If you are in 

 a hurry to flnish up a crop, the tempera- 

 ture may be run 5 or even 10 degrees 

 warmer, both day and night, without any 

 serious danger, if plenty of ventilation 

 is given. H. G. 



FORCING GREEN ONIONS. 



A brother florist told me that the best 

 way to grow green onions was to plant 

 what is usually termed "pickle onions." 

 These are the smaU onions which are 

 grown from seed and are too large to 

 sell as sets the following season. He 

 told me to give them a carnation tem- 

 perature and to set them" in two inches 

 of soil and cover with about one inch. 

 I tried four bushels in this way and the 

 largest onions are not larger than a lead 

 pencil. What is the trouble? Is the 

 temperature too high or did I plant them 

 too close together? I should have added 

 that I set them as close together as I 

 could. 



There is a space on the north side of 

 my greenhouse about 25x100 feet. I 

 have been thinking of planting this to 

 onions next spring and cultivating them 

 in the usual way. Next fall I would 

 cover this space with hotbed sash and 

 run a line of steam pipes around the out- 

 side. I would let them freeze up and not 

 turn on the steam until about January 1, 

 and in this way I believe I could pro- 

 duce a fine crop of onions and have them 

 harvested before I would need the sash 

 for the hotbeds, which we usually start 

 March 10. Then I could spade up this 

 plot and plant it to onions for next win- 

 ter's crop. We are going to put up three 

 new houses for onions, radishes and let- 

 tuce this coming spring. Will someone 

 please help me out on this subject? I 

 am sure others will be interested. Please 

 say what kind of onions are best to plant. 

 I live in Nebraska. L. M. B. 



I prefer the large sets, the same as 

 you used for forcing, but usually get the 

 yellow kinds, as I like them better than 



IIVE ACRES with the 

 Skinner Irrigation will 

 produce as much crops as 

 TEN ACRES without it. 



The 



TROY, o. 



Vegetable Plants 



POR TRANSPLANTING 



CABBA6K— Wakefield and SucceBsion, $1.50 



per 1000. 

 xao PLANT - N. Y. Improved and Black 



B. auty, 4( c per 100; $3.00 per 1000. 

 PKPPKR— Bull Nose, Ruby King and Sweet 



Mountain, 40c per 100; $3.00 per 1000. 

 Chinese Giant and Cayenne, 50c per 100. 

 TOMATO- Earliana, Chalk's Jewel and Early 



June Pink. 30c per lOO; $2.00 per 1000. 

 Cash with order. 



R. VINCENT, JR., & SONS CO., Whitemarsh, Md. 



Mention The Renew wnen you write 



Seeds for Forcing 



LIVINGSTON'S TRUE BLUE STRAINS 



Lettuce- Grand Rapld8....i4-lb., 36c; lb., $1.25 



Radtsli-FlrebaU i^-lb., 16c; lb., .50 



Radish-Im. Scarlet Globe. ^-Ib., 20c; lb., .60 



Radlsb— Rosy Gem ^-Ib.. 15c; lb., .60 



Tomato-L's Globe, oz. ,35c; >4-lb.,$1.10;lb., 4.00 



Tomato-L'H Beauty, oz., 25c; ^4-10. ,60c; lb., 1.76 



If to be mailed add 8c per lb. for postage. 



LIVINGSTON SEED CO., Box 104. Colambus, Ohio 



Mention The Review when you write. 



The Strawberry Blight 



Its Cause and Cure 



How to double the yield of the crop without 

 increasing the cost of production. 



Price of Book, $2.00. 



W. C. TRIMBLE, * Princeton, III. 



Mention The Review when you write. 



the white. Medium sized sets, such as 

 are sold for planting out in gardens in 

 spring, are all right, but the smallest 

 ones are too slow and make too small 

 sprouts for nice green onions. Your 

 temperature was about right, but deeper 

 soil would be better, and I think you 

 probably have the sets a little too close 

 together. Perhaps the place where they 

 are is not as light as it might be, causing 

 them to grow tall and weak. 



I think that for growing in frames 

 outside you would do much better to 

 plant these frames to sets (or small 

 onions too large for sets and too small to 

 sell for eating onions), late in the fall, 

 so that they would just get to sprouting 

 before freezing up. Leave the glass off 

 until all chance of good weather is over; 

 then cover them up and leave them until 

 ready to turn on the steam in January, 

 to start them up. I have left them out 

 all winter in this way and started them 

 up without heat in the spring and had a 

 fine crop. At first I was afraid that they 

 would all be killed by the freezing, but 

 they were not hurt. 



For the benefit of L. M. B., and any 

 others who missed the articles on radish 

 forcing in the past, I will give in some 

 future issue a complete article on the 

 forcing of radishes in greenhouses. 



H. G. 



