88 DREER’S VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS. 
The culture of water cress in beds is slightly different 
from the culture in running streams. In the former case it 
must not be made too wet or it will become slimy. In the 
latter case the constantly changing water removes any such 
tendency. 
BEANS. JohnG. Gardner, of West Conshohocken, Pa., 
(formerly of Jobstown, N. J.), mentions Sion House as his 
best forcing bean. He has also used Long Yellow Six 
Weeks (a green-podded bean) and Mohawk, but prefers the 
one first mentioned. A tropical temperature (65° and upward) 
is needed for beans in the greenhouse. Beans are sold in 
half-pound and pound bunches in winter, and bring good 
prices among a certain-class of buyers. The demand is a 
fancy one, and beans cannot everywhere be grown with profit. 
A dwarf variety of bean, with long, green pods, known 
as Best-of-All, is used for forcing purposes by some Phila- 
delphia gardeners. It resembles Sion House in many respects. 
MELONS. ‘The Early Hackensack melon is mentioned 
in the Dreer note books of 1896 as seen in cultivation in the 
large forcing houses of the Hittinger Brothers, at Belmont, 
Massachusetts. The crop was in fine condition, with numbers 
of well-developed melons on the vines. The feasibility of 
growing the melons to perfection was fully demonstrated. 
The profit of the operation was not within our reach to deter- 
mine. ‘The melon belongs to the class of fancy crops, and 
profits depend almost wholly upon the market in which such 
things are sold. In some places melons could be forced with 
profit ; in other places the cost would exceed the receipts. 
Mint. The cultivation of mint (spearmint) as a green- 
house crop seems to be increasing rapidly, and our note books 
show that it is now commonly grown in winter for all the 
large city markets. 
It is grown from roots to be had of the seedsmen, or by 
