CROPS UNDER GLASS 



5a 



fall and the next season you have that business to build up 

 again. If you talk to a traveling salesman, he will tell you 

 the same story. He will tell you that if he misses getting 

 around to his customer one month or two months, when he is 

 accustomed to getting around it every month, his trade is 

 pretty near gone. He has to attack this lost business just as 

 if it were new. Your situation is similar. Why could you 

 not keep on supplying the grocer with lettuce during the 

 winter? Then as spring comes on, you will be able to add 

 cucumbers or tomatoes. As your other trade develops on, you 

 will be in touch with him. "Next week," you will be able to 

 say, am going to have this." Thus you can hold your trade 

 right through the year. At the same time that you are doing 

 that, you are doing another thing. You have experienced 

 those dark months during the winter when you are investing 

 money on every hand, but not a bit is coming in. You have 

 to take your savings out of the bank and destroy the interest- 

 bearing value of that money for a year; or if you cannot do 

 that, you are pushed right. to the wall. The use of some glass 

 will help you, I think, to pay your bills as you go during that 

 time; and not only that, but it will make it easier for you to 

 pay cash, to lay in supplies in advance. Take packages, for 

 instance. You can usually buy them more cheaply in the 

 spring, when the factories are not busy. Thus the greenhouse 

 helps to even up your income and your returns during the 

 year. 



I am not going to discuss each crop this afternoon. I am 

 going to leave it to you. We have some good men here, men 

 who have had experience and are successful. Let us give 

 practically our whole time over to questions. I suppose we 

 had better begin with lettuce. That is the most important of 

 all the greenhouse vegetable crops. It is one that you can 

 grow very nicely throughout the year. The first question 

 might be this: What kind of soil do we want for growings 

 lettuce? Mr. Zuck, will you give us your experience? 



Soil Questions. 



Mr. Zuck: The natural soil on which we grow Grand 

 Rapids lettuce would not do at all for head lettuce. It is what 



