AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 57 



To make the best use of the house two crops should be grown 

 during the season. This will bring each crop on at a season when 

 the expense of heating during a part of the time will be slight. 

 Plants for the first crop should be started as early as the first of 

 August, the middle of July being none too early if the b«lk of the 

 crop is desired for the holidays. In case two or more houses are availa- 

 ble it is well to make a second sowing in about three weeks to give 

 a succession. For the second crop seed should be sown about the 

 first of November. 



The plants are treated in every way as for out-door culture till 

 handled the last time. For the final receptacle for fruiting we have 

 generally used boxes eighteen inches squire and one foot deep. 

 In the bottom place a layer of about an inch of charcoal, potsherds 

 or "clinkers" from the furnace ; then fill to within two or three 

 inches of the top with prepared soil, consisting of three parts good 

 garden loam and one part well rotted stable manure. Each box 

 will hold four plants, and the check caused by the partial confine- 

 ment of the roots seems to be of value in hastening maturity. This 

 point is discussed in another connection (see page 57-59). 



We have usually found the best returns to follow when the plants 

 were trained to a single stem, as shown in Plate III. 



Flax cords about the size of wool twine are fastened to the cor- 

 ners of the boxes and attached above to wires running lengthwise 

 of the building on the rafters or sash-bars. The plants are secured 

 loosely to this support by means of bast or raffia. All side shoots 

 should be removed as soon as they appear. When the plants are 

 about five feet high, or when about four clusters of fruit have set, 

 the terminal buds should be pinched off. The vitality of the plant 

 will then be expended in the development of the fruit. 



As the fruit sets, the clusters should be supported by means of 

 a small cord or piece of raffia passing around the main stem above 

 a leaf, thus forming a sling. At this time, too, it is well to stir 

 the surface of the soil and work in a quantity of well-rotted 

 manure, or to give frequent applications of liquid manure. 



The temperature of the house should be as nearly uniform as 

 possible. We usually prefer about 60° at night and 70° in dark 

 weather, but on bright sunny days the mercury may run up to 80° 

 or higher. If possible, avoid cold draughts and sudden changes of 

 temperature. 



Until the plants begin to blossom, the atmosphere of the house 

 should be kept moist and the soil, though not saturated, should 



