A GENERAL VIEW 7 
Florida sent immense quantities of head lettuce to Boston 
and other markets of the Boston growers. Mishaps in 
the Florida fields since 1909 have improved market condi- 
tions for head lettuce in the East, so that greenhouse 
building about Boston was a few years later more active. 
The western growers have also felt the keen competition 
of southern gardeners; notwithstanding this fact, there 
has been a very large increase of the glass area in most of 
the Middle States in recent years. 
The superior quality of greenhouse vegetables is be- 
coming more generally recognized every year, and this is 
the factor that assures the successful grower of at least 
reasonable profits. The southern field-grown vegetables 
sometimes find their way to the garbage disposal plants, 
while the better products of the greenhouses are sold, 
though the prices may be very low. There can be no 
discounting the fact that tomatoes, fully ripened on the 
plants in the greenhouse, are far superior in quality to the 
field-grown specimens picked green or only partially ripe, 
and held for days in transportation and by a long line of 
middlemen before arriving at the consumer’s table. 
Similar statements might be made regarding other 
important forcing crops. 
Above all, it behooves the greenhouse grower of vege- 
tables to bear in mind that high quality is the first con- 
sideration if he is to make a financial success of his 
enterprise, and no effort should be spared which will con- 
tribute to that end. The choice of good varieties, seed 
selection, proper cultural methods, rigid grading, skillful 
packing and prompt marketing, all count for high quality, 
and high quality counts for high prices. 
Economic production.—Greenhouse growers of vege- 
tables usually meet with competition from two sources: 
First, from those who are forcing crops under artificial 
conditions; and, second, from cultivators who are pro- 
ducing under the natural conditions of the field, but are 
