82 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
March, 1919 
Growing' and Marketing Plants 
H. C. Christensen 
The growing of vegetable plants 
in greenhouses, hotbeds and cold 
frames for market may be made 
finite an additional source of in- 
come to the gardener, especially 
as most of the work connected 
with it may be done at a time 
when outdoor work does not 
claim one’s attention. 
The war gardens of the past two 
years have greatly increased the 
sale of plants and the demand has 
been almost unlimited, and as the 
interest in gardening has been 
stimulated by war work the de- 
mand will probably continue to 
be good for some time yet. 
I believe it will pay one to have 
a small greenhouse to start the 
plants in, as it eliminates much of 
the cold, disagreeable work con- 
nected with early hot-beds, and 
as it is getting harder to secure 
materials for making hot-beds the 
cost of heating is not any greater. 
A good supply of soil should be 
secured in the fall. If one has a 
greenhouse it is filled then, if hot- 
beds it is put in piles and covered 
with manure to prevent freezing. 
We like a clay loam that is pre- 
pared by plowing under a heavy 
sod in the fall, working it 
thoroughly through the spring 
and summer to reduce the sod and 
keep it free from weeds. To this 
is added one-third of well rotted 
manure and some sand if the soil 
is very heavy. 
A good supply of flats will be 
needed if the plants are to be sold 
to the grocers or retailers. We 
use two sizes, 16 V 2 ,r x 22 ", 
12 " x I 6 V 2 " and 3" deep as these 
sizes fit conveniently in either a 
3ft. or a 3ft. 4 in. sash frame. A 
few pots and dirt bands will be 
needed, as there is some demand 
for potted plants. 
The plants that are mostly in 
demand are : celery, tomatoes, 
pepper, egg plant, cabbage, canli- 
flower, kohl-rabi and head lettuce. 
To these may be added a few flow- 
ering plants as asters, salvia and 
pansies. 
Our earliest tomatoes are sown 
in the greenhouse about the .first 
of March. When the plants have 
4 or 5 leaves which will be in 5 or 
6 weeks they are set into hotbeds 
about 2Vo inches apart and when 
about 4 inches high are set in the 
larger sized flats, six dozen to a 
flat. These sold last year for 15 
cents per dozen. For home trade 
we pull them directly from the 
beds and charge 20 cents per 
dozen. Some of the plants are set 
in the flats directly from the seed 
flats, but it is harder to secure uni- 
form plants by this method. 
Four inch pots are used in pot- 
ting and plants from these sell for 
60 cents per dozen. We grow the 
Buckstaff, John Baer and Dwarf 
Stone. While the last named is 
not a heavy yielder, the stocky 
plant it makes causes a demand 
for it which we try to discourage. 
To keep up a succession of plants, 
seed is sown every 3 weeks until 
the middle of April. 
Egg plants, pepper and salvias 
are slow growing plants, so we 
sow the seeds of these the latter 
part of February. When the 
plants have grown 4 or 5 leaves 
they are set in hotbeds about the 
same distance a paid as the toma- 
toes and when 4 inches high they 
are set in the smaller sized flats, 2 
dozen egg plants, 3 dozen salvias 
and 3 dozen peppers to a flat. 
The egg plants bring 25 cents, the 
salvias 30 cents and the peppers 
15 cents per dozen. 
The first cabbage, cauliflower 
and kohlrabi seed is sown about 
March 1st. They are grown as 
cool as possible with as much ven- 
tilation as weather will permit, so 
the plants will be stocky and 
hardy. In preparing a bed for 
cabbage, we first put about 3 
inches of the well enriched soil on 
the bed and about an inch of soil 
on top of this that has no manure 
in it, sowing the seed in drills in 
this. It helps to prenvent damp- 
ing off, to which cabbage and es- 
pecially cauliflower are particu- 
larly liable. When the plants are 
about the right size for setting we 
transplant into smaller sized flats, 
eight dozen to a flat. The cab- 
bage and kohl-rabi bring 10 cents 
and the cauliflower 20 cents per 
dozen. The home trade is sup- 
plied directly from the frames at 
8 cents per dozen or 60 cents per 
hundred. To keep up a succes- 
sion, seed is sown evei\y three 
weeks up to the first of June. 
Cauliflower brings 15 cents per 
dozen. 
For early cabbage Ave groAV Jer- 
sey Wakefield, Copenhagen Mar- 
ket and Glory of Enkhousen and 
for later, Succession and All-sea- 
sons. For cauliflower Early Snow- 
ball and Dry Weather. White 
Vienna is the only kohl-rabi we 
grow. 
Celery, Celeriac and parsley are 
sown in flats in the greenhouse, 
about the middle of February. 
The soil in the flats is smoothed off 
and firmed with a board and the 
seed sown and then a quarter of 
and inch of clean sand sifted OA r er 
the seed to prevent damping off. 
When the seedlings have 3 or 4 
leaves they are set into the smaller 
flats 8 dozen to a flat, and bring 10 
cents per dozen. 
Asters are treated about the 
same as celery only the seed is not 
sown until the middle of March. 
