1222 
October 14, 1022 
of production on all the other crops is away ahead 
of the returns. This puts the man who depends 
upon Summer flowers as a large portion of his live¬ 
lihood at a serious disadvantage. It is for the con¬ 
sideration of such people that I am writing these 
facts so fully. Personally, we shall not plant any 
more flowers to help this condition along. There is 
always the chance of a reaction in these matters. 
Many growers become disgusted with the low re¬ 
turns—or no returns at all—and quit. e. j. w. 
How to Force Easter Plants 
I have a small greenhouse and heated frame con¬ 
nected, which I use to raise vegetable plants in the 
Spring. Could I till the frame with potted hyacinth 
bulbs this Full, letting them freeze and rest until early 
Spring, then turn the Item on and force them for Faster, 
with any success? Frame is 10x45 ft., two rows of 
MxG sash making the roof, heated with 2-iti. water pipes. 
What temperature would hyacinth bulbs need? itow 
long before Faster should the heat be turned on the 
frame? 1 have a market for Easter flowers. Is there 
anything that could be forced iu a heated frame for 
Easter bloom? If uot, could I work the frame filled 
with spearmint? r. w. b. 
New York. 
Hyacinths, Narcissus and tulips can usually bo 
forced rather profitably for Faster if you have a 
local market that will pay tlie price necessary to 
pay expenses and leave some profit. The margin 
will be very small, or sales will even show a loss if 
the finished plants must be transported any great 
distance. All bulbs mentioned may be potted up, 
either singly or in 4-in. pots, or, better, grouped 
several together in larger pots or fern pans. They 
can also be planted in small flats. The pots, after 
being planted, are placed very close together in a cold 
frame and covered over with soil to the depth of 4 
in.: that is. 4 in. of soil over the top of the pot after 
the bulb is placed in the pot in the regular way. 
The potting should be done from October 15 to 
December 1. though best results will be had if pot¬ 
ting is completed before too cold weather, or the 
bulbs will not have an opportunity to make root 
action before Winter sets in. 
When the ground freezes slightly a covering of 
salt hay. loaves or any other protection should he 
placed over the soil of sullicient thickness to prevent 
the frost from penetrating into the soil. Sash may 
he placed over the bed duriug Winter, though not 
an absolute necessity. Some writers will advise 8 
in. or even more in depth for the soil covering, but 
this is an error, as the stems will be very long and 
weak with this treatment. Hyacinths should be 
removed from the outside frame, the soil being care¬ 
fully removed that has been placed on top of the 
pots, so as not to injure the spike from the bulb, and 
placed in tlie forcing house three weeks before 
Faster. The temperature of the house should be 
about 50 to 52 degrees. The same temperature will 
answer very well for the other bulbs. 
The treatment of Narcissus and tulips is the same 
with regard to removal of soil and placing in the 
house as with hyacinths, the only difference being 
in the length of time required to bring them into 
bloom. Golden Spur will require from 14 to is days. 
Bieolor, Victoria and Emperor require 24 to 20 days, 
and should be planted lote in October, these varieties 
requiring a longer season to develop. 
The standard single and double varieties of tulips 
are the most satisfactory for pot culture. The Dar¬ 
wins are not so easily handled. The single varieties 
will require three weeks in the house, and the double 
varieties four weeks. The best plan will be to work 
along these suggested dates and keep a close record 
each season, as experiment is the best method to 
reach success. 
An early Faster will usually require more time 
in the house than a late one. After April 10 hya¬ 
cinths will bloom outside in the cold frame without 
heat in the average season. e. j. w. 
A Few Greenhouse Problems 
I am going to keep a greenhouse this Winter, for 
flowers and Winter vegetables, also plants for next 
year's crop of cabbage and tomatoes. I wish to know 
how to mix up the soil for these different things, how 
long it should stand before being put iu the hothouse, 
and when. How warm should greenhouse be kept? 
Pennsylvania. J. M. o. 
J. M. i >. does nut go into sullicient detail as to 
his plans to enable one to give an intelligent reply. 
Any good garden soil will give fair results in a 
greenhouse. The addition of well-rotted manure 
will help materially, Lime will also he needed if 
there is any hint of acidity in the soil, though the 
lime and manure are not a good combination it 
applied at the same time. Try to work the lime into 
the soil, and a short time after a heavy watering, 
or heavy rain, add the manure and incorporate 
t ho roughly. 
I could not think of any flower crop that can he 
grown this Winter, except possibly bulbs, llya- 
Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER r 
ciuths, Narcissus or tulips may he potted up in a 
frame outdoors, and brought into the house three 
or four weeks before Faster. The best, crop to start 
out with would be Grand Rapids lettuce. The plants 
should be set in the house as soon as possible for 
tlie first crop. Plant tnem about 7xs in., keep them 
well watered, though not wet and soggy, the tem¬ 
perature about 50 degrees, and either place tobacco 
stems around the plants or fumigate with tobacco 
often enough to keep the green fly in check. Have 
another lot of plants ready to plant as soon as the 
first crop is cut. 
About the first of November tomato seed can be 
sown. P>onny Best or Comet being the best varieties. 
The plants will grow very slowly in the low tem¬ 
perature. but if given several inches of space each 
way on a shelf in the house will be line and stocky 
by the middle or end of February, when they can be 
planted right among the lettuce about is iu. each 
way. They will have to lm trained to a single stem 
and properly supported. Soon as the last lettuce is 
cut the temperature should bo run at <10. Do not 
water very heavily till there arc tomatoes set on three 
nr four clusters. After that time water thoroughly 
every time the soil appears to be a little dry. Allow¬ 
ing the soil to dry off at this stage will cause brown 
In Prof. Waugh’s fine article <>n "Fixing Fp" I notice 
he says to plant deciduous trees for "dignity." What’s 
the matter with the evergreens in that class? I am 
enclosing a snapshot of a Norway spruce used as a 
specimen tree, and to my mind it "tnakPs the place!" 
Shrubbery is important, but we should emphasize the 
tree planting for the future. I think a good motto 
would be "A tree for the future with every shubbery 
planting.”— t. n. t. 
it. and over-watering earlier will induce too much 
lant. growth, and the blossoms will not set properly. 
Vegetable plants can he grown on raised shelves, 
Iso started in the greenhouse, and moved to cold 
rallies when transplanted. This will apply to cub¬ 
age, cauliflower, beets, lettuce and other hardy 
hints. Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers will have 
i he grown warm. 
One or two good hooks would be a great help; in 
act. almost a necessity for a beginner, if he would 
void trouble and loss. The gain from having seve¬ 
ral good books is beyond comparison with the cost, 
tailey’s “Forcing Book" and Taft’s “Greenhouse 
iimtt'wnpitt" are verv 
• » 1 11 •! I ll l\ 
Soil Questions From Maryland 
Relative to the growing of wheat, is ii not necessary 
to plow for fallow wheat considerably iu advance of 
seeding in order to permit a partial decomposition of 
the organic matter? 1 have reference mostly to in- 
stances where the second growth of clover is plowed 
under. 
S UCH experiments as we have studied seem to 
show Unit, early plowing for wheat is very de¬ 
sirable. Early plowing in June or July has given 
better satisfaction than when the land is plowed 
immediately before seeding. Our theory of this is 
that Hie earlier plowing gives a better chance for 
the breaking up or decomposition of the organic 
matter, thus making its plant food more available. 
Much the same thing also applies to other green 
crops. Of course it is true that some green crops 
like rye and Soy beans, where the stems are very 
large and hollow, may injure the soil by admitting 
too much air and starting up too strong a fermenta¬ 
tion. We have known soils to be injured in that 
way. This, of course, is partly remedied by rolling 
or packing the crops hard after plowing. A crop 
like clover or Soy beans, strong in nitrogen, will 
decay more rapidly than a crop of rye or buckwheat. 
Does corn yield more when barnyard manure is well 
disked into plowed soil rather than broadcast before 
plowing? Would the residual effect upon the following 
crop be the same in both cases? 
It does not always follow that disking barnyard 
manure will give better results than broadcasting. 
Pile character of the manure would have much to do 
with that. Very rough and coarse manure will give 
better results when plowed or disked under ground. 
On the other hand, very line and well-rotted manure 
may he better when broadcast like chemicals, it 
seems to be a matter of availability. The coarser 
and heavier manure evidently decays faster when 
put down into the ground. It is doubtful whether 
there would he any particular difference in the 
residual effect. It is largely a matter of availability. 
The line, well-rotted manure cun be spread to a 
better advantage and will give up its plant food 
faster. 
Do all forms of lime attack the liutnus in the soil? 
What, becomes of the humus when so attacked? In 
rebuilding worn-out, humus-free soils would not lime 
be more effective if the humus content of these soils 
were first, replenished? 
All forms of lime attack the humus iu the soil, 
hut naturally a finely burnt lime will be much more 
rapid in its work than a coarsely ground limestone. 
It is largely a matter of chemistry, the burnt lime 
being an active agent, while the raw limestone would 
he much slower in its action. Humus, when acted 
upon by the lime, rapidly decays or is worked up 
and destroyed by bacteria. The bulk of the humus 
will he oxidized and pass out of its original form. 
There can be no question that lime has a better 
effect upon a soil which is well filled with humus. 
The method I have in mind is to let rye be the 
pioneer crop, to be plowed under for humus when 
humus is needed before lime, and either cow peas or 
Sweet clover the pioneer crop when humus is not espe¬ 
cially needed before lime for the most beneficial re¬ 
sults. In a case like this is rye the only crop suited 
for the purpose? 
We have seeded rye on light soil which was de¬ 
ficient in lime. We obtained a fair growth, and by 
plowing it under and then using lime to hasten its 
decay we felt that, we prepared the soil quite rapidly 
for clover. Buckwheat is another crop which helps 
us to obtain quick results. As a rule, the Soy bean 
does not respond to the use of lime as freely as 
clover or some of flic other legumes. In fact both 
the Soy bean and the cow pea will do fairly well on 
soil that is quite acid. We observe that the Soy 
beat! responds quickly to fertilizer or good soil. 
Perhaps the light portions of that field are deficient 
in both nitrogen and humus. We have found this 
season that cow peas will make a strong growth and 
form nodules on the roots without inoculation, while 
Soy beans are feeble and backward if not inoculated. 
Farm Management Questions 
S HALT, we grow crops that seem naturally adapted 
to the land, taking into consideration the soil 
t.\ pe, topography and climatic conditions, and then 
select the animals that will thrive best on these 
crops? Or shall we select the kind of animals we 
want to handle and by soil amendments produce the 
crops best adapted to feeding the animals? 
At the Southeastern Test Farm. Meigs County, 
Ohio, our principal line of work is sheep husbandry. 
Owing to the topography the bulk of the land must 
he kept in pastures or meadows, and we deem the 
sheep are animals that will economically transform 
the pasture grass and hay into products for human 
consumption. 
Of the MOO acres in the farm 01.5 acres are in 
cultivated crops, 144.5 acres permanent pasture, 42.0 
acres woodland. 4 acres waste, and the remainder 
farmstead, roads, etc. What cropping system should 
be adopted? 
We have been trying out a rotation of corn, wheat, 
clover, using about six tons ol’ phosphated manure, 
40 lbs, of acid phosphate to the ton of manure, for 
corn, and 200 lbs. of acid phosphate for wheat, 
which is top-dressed with four Ions of phospliated 
manure. Two tons of ground limestone are applied 
in the rotation. The treatment has resulted in a 
four-year average of 50.M5 bushels of corn, 21.7 
bushels of wheal and 1.05 tons of clover hay. While 
the limestone brings the clover bay all right, il runs 
up tin 1 cost. A plot In the fertility work, same rota¬ 
tion. with 210 lbs. acid phosphate, 20 lbs. muriate of 
