NEW YEAR'S is an excellent time 

 to plan out the part to be played 

 by the greenhouse in the coming 

 season's activities. Don't wait 

 until spring before making pledges for the 

 garden. 



The easy going, take-things-as-they-come 

 sort of folks imagine the greenhouse to be a 

 sort of mechanical sunshine shop that turns 

 out products, without further care. Now 

 this of course is not the case, and failure 

 can always be charged up to bad manage- 

 ment, not to bad luck, or fault of the 

 greenhouse builder. A greenhouse, in the 

 hands of a skilled man, is capable of produc- 

 ing results that would make the lackadai- 

 sical gardener shake his head in wonder ; but 

 the most peculiar part of the whole circum- 

 stance is the fact that the owners of some 

 greenhouses are content with a sprig of 

 parsley or poor shrivelled up aphis-eaten 

 carnation flowers, when from the same green- 

 house they could be gathering flowers or 

 vegetables of the highest quality and in 

 abundance. 



"Buy good seed" has become a slogan; 

 I am a staunch believer in quality, not only 

 in seeds but in plants or any stock, in 

 fact. This principle holds 

 with particular force in the 

 greenhouse, as the plants 

 there are subjected to un- 

 natural conditions. Also 

 see to it that you get the 

 good varieties, too! It 

 costs every bit as much 

 to care for poor quality 

 plants as it does to grow 

 the best. The greenhouse 

 must be cared for, the 

 plants watered, and kept 

 potted, good soil must be 

 provided, heat must be 

 given exactly the same in 

 both cases. If you now 

 have a lot of poor speci- 

 mens, throw them out at 

 once, and make a fresh 

 start. Give your green- 

 house a sort of overhaul- 

 ing, go through it carefully 

 and ask yourself about 

 each single plant "Does it 

 give any returns?" "Is it 

 worth the space it occu- 

 pies?" Don't hesitate to 

 throw away plants that 



do not measure up to the 



proper standard. A great Lilies can be had 

 deal of the dissatisfaction 



By W. C. McCollom 



of an unproductive greenhouse can be 

 charged up to having it half filled with old 

 seedy plants that are necessarily unproduc- 

 tive and of no value. Good growers will 

 have their greenhouses stocked from sill to 

 ridge, every inch of available space will be 

 occupied by good thrifty plants, every 

 one paying its way, but no good grower 

 will have a conglomeration of a lot of half 

 dead and badly assorted plants. Weeding 

 out right now will prove beneficial in many 

 an overloaded greenhouse. 



A friend who was about to build a small 

 greenhouse replied to my question when 

 asked what he intended growing, "Oh, peas, 

 beans, lettuce, tomatoes, etc., and a mixed 

 collection of flowers." "You can't do it 

 in a one compartment house," I said. 

 Whereupon he took exception, saying that 

 all these plants grew together in his garden 

 in summer. Many meet with failure on 

 this rock. In a greenhouse you are work- 

 ing against nature and while there are not 

 many plants the skilled hand cannot convert 

 to his purpose, yet there are obstacles, such 

 as temperature and atmospheric conditions, 



at almost any season of the year by getting bulbs from cold storage and 

 planting them in the greenhouse 



231 



which make the successful growing of a 

 large variety in one compartment a hope- 

 less task. Yet this trying to crowd too 

 much variety in one house is the greatest 

 error of management the amateur makes. 



A greenhouse should never be idle. Every 

 day the year round should find it produc- 

 ing something. The house itself does not 

 need to rest, and to allow it to stand idle for 

 months is gross mismanagement. Start 

 the year right by mapping out a plan that 

 will keep your greenhouse busy. 



One of the most important services of a 

 greenhouse is to assist you in having better 

 outdoor gardens, both as to flowers and veg- 

 etables. Through starting the various veg- 

 etables in the greenhouse, weeks are saved 

 and quality is attained which is impossible 

 otherwise. An unsupported vegetable gar- 

 den is but a poor substitute for what it 

 should be. The vegetable seeds are usu- 

 ally sown in pans and when large enough to 

 handle are transferred to boxes or "flats" 

 as the gardener calls them. As spring 

 advances these young plants are gradually 

 hardened off and when the weather is fit 

 they are set out in the garden. The hard- 

 ening off must be done gradually, yet it 

 must be done thoroughly, 

 as all will be lost by set- 

 ting out soft sappy plants. 

 On next page will be found 

 a list of vegetables and 

 the time for sowing. The 

 time given for sowing 

 seeds is of course not 

 binding, sowing either side 

 of the dates mentioned 

 may be made to suit 

 your particular require- 

 ments. You can also sow 

 a second or in some 

 cases even a third time 

 for successional flower- 

 ing with plants that 

 flower . in crops like the 

 aster. 



Things for the flower 

 garden are started in much 

 the same way as vege- 

 tables, but itis not always 

 necessary to have so 

 many "flats" as the young 

 plants can be transplant- 

 ed from the seed pans into 

 one of the greenhouse 

 benches. It is usually not 

 necessary to prepare this 

 bed especially; simply 

 turn under the top of the 



