November i6, 1392.] 



Garden and Forest. 



549 



grown in the house ; the first is only a partial crop on account 

 of the moderate demand, the second is the main crop. The 

 third will be partially crowded out because so many other 

 plants claim room in the house in early spring. The third crop 

 may be grown between Tomato-plants with moderate success, 

 and comes off a little before, or at the same time as, the hot- 

 bed crop. For the last crop the plants may be transplanted 

 into open ground or cold frames and then be earlier than ordi- 

 nary outdoor lettuce. 



The possibilities of production maybe estimated as follows : 

 We have grown crops on the middle benches that were har- 

 vested the last of February and the first of March that aver- 

 aged one-half pound per plant ; at 6 x 8 inches apart this gives 

 one and one-half pound per square foot. At fifteen cents 

 per pound the product would bring 22^ cents per square foot. 

 A fair estimate for the season would be thirty cents per square 

 foot of greenhouse space for the lettuce crop, and about one- 

 third that amount for hot-bed space. This, it must be remem- 

 bered, is only for Lettuce ; other crops following in both house 

 and hot-bed make the space much more valuable. Outdoor 

 space may be counted at five or six cents per square foot. So it 

 may be seen by summing up all the crops together that a 

 reasonable amount of money may be made in raising lettuce, 

 if one is successful. 



The necessary elements of success in lettuce-growing may 

 be summed up as follows : 



Keep the plants in flats until ready to set in permanent bed. 

 Use rich compost soil. Use good judgment in watering. Cul- 

 tivate the crop as much as possible. Keep lower dead leaves 

 well picked off. Watch for and fight the green fly incessantly. 

 Grow Grand Rapids, unless the market demands other vari- 

 eties. 



Potting Soils. 



HERE in New England, as in most eastern states, it is highly 

 important that a supply of potting material be laid in under 

 cover for the winter's use, and there is no better time to see 

 that the main supply is sufficient to last until after midsummer 

 next. Rose-growers and others are beginning to appreciate 

 the importance of laying in a stock of loam suited to their 

 purpose, and placing it where it can be thoroughly well frozen 

 during winter. I am puzzled to know which are the worst foes 

 of the gardener and florist — those of fungoid origin or insects 

 and true worms after their kind. Of this animal class I feel 

 sure we should have less to dread if our soils were carefully 

 laid in when convenient, and not stacked up in heaps to ex- 

 clude frost. If its kindly influence were rather invited and 

 allowed to penetrate every inch of the soil, we should hear 

 less of root-gall and eel-worms on Violets, Roses, Carnations, 

 Cyclamens and other plants. Where it is not possible to freeze 

 soil, and insect foes are prevalent, the other extreme must be 

 adopted, and a system of heating the soil should be adopted. 

 There is nothing new in heating the soil to kill insects in the 

 egg and in other stages of growth. I well remember when a 

 boy seeing my father bake his leaf-mold before he dared to 

 use it for choice plants and Ferns. Our most careful attention 

 should be given that the loam is of a good texture ; we can 

 make it as rich as we please afterward. Above all, we should 

 see to it that we are not driven to scrape around to get enough 

 soil together at the last moment for our needs. Here is where 

 the trouble begins, which develops and spreads with such fatal 

 effects later on. While I do not advocate storing soil for any 

 length of time before using — six months is long enough — it is a 

 great gain to have all the vegetable matter thoroughly well 

 decomposed before handling it, for in this way much labor 

 will be saved which would otherwise be needed in future 

 weeding. 



It was once considered necessary to the successful growth 

 of the commonest plants, as the Carnation or Auricula, to have 

 a great number of ingredients in the soil and in the most exact 

 proportions. Much of this care in compounding soils has 

 passed away with the old-school gardeners who practiced it. 

 We can grow just as good Azaleas to-day in loam and leaf- 

 mold as were ever grown in peat. Ericas and Boronias also 

 thrive in a like compost if made porous. Good well-decayed 

 leaf-soil is invaluable to the gardener, and great care should 

 be taken when storing the leaves to throw out the sticks or 

 branches, for these encourage fungus-growths. Where Pine- 

 trees are common it is well, also, to avoid mixing in the pine- 

 needles ; the resin they contain prevents rapid decay, and is in 

 itself injurious. The use of sand in potting composts is not so 

 generally appreciated as it deserves to be. The value of silica in 

 soils as plant-food is small, though appreciable, when compared 

 with its value in rendering available all otlier plant-foods con- 

 tained in the compost. If a soil becomes sour it is at once 



poisonous to plant-roots, but given a liberal addition of coarse 

 sand the most adhesive soil may be made fertile by its more 

 perfect aeration. The water will pass through readily, and the 

 air take its place until again replaced by water, and thus a per- 

 fect system of sanitation is maintained. The quantity of sand 

 necessary must be determined by the texture of the loam. 



Where Orchids are grown Fern-root is an essential for the 

 winter's work. The large tufts of Osmunda, common in pas- 

 tures, produce the best medium known to-day for the success- 

 ful culture of Epiphytes. The tufts should be grubbed up 

 from above the surface level and stored for winter, when it 

 may be prepared at odd times by separating the rhizomes of 

 the Fern from the fibrous roots. It is well, also, to keep the 

 brown fibre separate from the coarser, because older, black 

 portions which underlie the Ferns as they grow upward. 

 Osmundas grow in wet, swampy soil as well as in drier up- 

 lands. The fibre is best when obtained from the latter source. 

 This so-called peat is now largely exported to England for 

 Orchid-culture there. 



Sphagnum-moss is also an essential in most establishments, 

 and to have it in a condition to start growing freely when. used it 

 should be gathered as late in the season as possible and stored 

 where it will freeze. It can then be thawed out, cleaned and used 

 at any time ; itisagreatmistake to be without it, as it cannot be 

 procured here until April, when a great portion of the work is 

 done for which it is required. Sphagnum needs a rest, like 

 everything else that grows, and, if gathered late, it has already 

 gone to rest and can be stored without injury if moist enough 

 to freeze. 



South Lancaster, Mass. O, O. 



Correspondence. 



Echoes from Madison Square Garden. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Again a Chrysanthemum season, and, again, the flow- 

 ers average distinctly larger than the year before. Truly, the 

 cut-flower grower does marvelous things with the plants which 

 he seriously takes in hand. It is only four years ago when the 

 first exhibit of the profession here was made in an exhibition- 

 tent in Union Square, and to-day we find the market growers of 

 fiowers practically monopolizing the tables and easily winning 

 the rich prizes. It may be questioned, however, whether the 

 flowers are not being rather overdone, and whether there will 

 not soon come a surfeit of such mammoth flowers which 

 have their limitations. In a competition, of course, size counts, 

 and the judges give the prizes to cubic contents every time, 

 questions of taste not being entered on scales of points. Out- 

 side the competitions, the specimen blooms collectively, in 

 masses of half-dozens and more, make bold and handsome 

 decorations for large apartments. It is a curious fact, how- 

 ever, that there seems no place for a single bouncing bloom, 

 even with the long stem, which is so potent a charm nowa- 

 days. In spite of its mass of color, it does not look well in any 

 vase yet devised, and every one who noticed the numerous 

 specimens carried through the city streets lately must have 

 noted that they always seemed awkward things to manage. A 

 flower which does not compose well with a fair damsel has 

 decided limitations. 



How to exhibit large specimen flowers in the least hideous 

 way is a question which is perennially discussed in every hor- 

 ticultural society of the two continents, and there is much to 

 be said on the side of the cup-hunter as well as on that of the 

 committee responsible for making an attractive show for the 

 public, and their views are apt to be somewhat divergent. 

 The sharp cup-hunter favors the boards, because on them the 

 flowers appear to the best possible advantage, as far as the 

 points of competition go. He can dress his blooms and set 

 them up to appear at their very best as the judges come,. and 

 there seems no reason why he should not be allowed these 

 advantages. It is no secret that the New York Florists' Club 

 do not favor boards. On their part they have entered into ex- 

 hibition management with a very high purpose of providing 

 attractive as well as instructive exhibits, and the prizes for cut 

 flowers were mostly offered for those with long stems shown 

 in single vases. The result appeared to me only a modified 

 success, for on the low tables used and under the crowding of 

 the exhibits, one, after all, only saw a glare of confused and 

 sometimes inharmonious colors with no foliage effect. It 

 may be possible to arrange these exhibits more satisfactorily, 

 but the idea seems to me based on two false assumptions. 

 One is that the Chrysanthemum has any foliage worth con- 

 sidering, and the other is that the only desirable stem is one 

 as stiff as a very stiff poker. 



The bane of the flower-show is the dilatory exhibitor who 



