162 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 4, 
but at the end of the season I found I had paid ex¬ 
penses and had a few cents more than what the house 
had cost remaining. The returns were not large for 
the labor expended, but I was satisfied that I could 
make violet growing pay, and, too, 1 had won my 
father’s interested co-operation, and from then on we 
worked together. After this our business grew rap¬ 
idly. In 1897 we doubled our house. In 1898 we again 
built a house as large as the one we then had. In 
1899 we added another house 1G by 100 feet. In 1902 
we again doubled our entire plant. We now have seven 
houses, making about 10,000 feet of glass. 
CONSTRUCTION.—Our houses are built with top 
benches level with the ground outside. The walks are 
dug out to a depth of three feet. The beds are six 
feet wide in the center and three feet 
wide on each side. Hot water is the 
method of heating, and all pipes are 
over the benches. We burn hard coal, 
and by so doing avoid the expense of a 
night man. The houses are kept at a 
low temperature at night, below 40 de¬ 
grees if possible, and above 34 degrees, 
except occasionally, when a little frost 
is allowed to creep in. We put sand- 
rooted cuttings in the field in early May, 
and the plants are thoroughly cultivated 
during the Summer months. The ma¬ 
jority of violet growers do not approve 
of this method, but with us it has been 
very satisfactory. Perhaps this is be¬ 
cause we have sufficient acreage so that 
plants need not be grown continuously 
on the same ground. In August the 
soil is taken out of the beds to a depth 
of from five to six inches; then they are 
filled in with ordinary garden soil. We 
endeavor to have plants all lifted and 
in the bouses before September 1. Care¬ 
ful cultivation, clipping of runners, water¬ 
ing and spraying keep us busy during the Autumn. 
The plants must not be allowed too much water, nor 
yet too little. The ravages of red spider must be 
checked by effectual spraying. The black and green 
fly must be driven out by the use of tobacco. The 
new To-bak-ine preparations are our most efficient 
helpers in this latter task. Early in October the bloom 
should appear, though the violet does not reach its 
best until about Thanksgiving. 
BUNCHING AND MARKETING.—In preparing 
the stock for market we put 25 or 50 in bunch, with 
heads even, and surround the bloom with green leaves, 
making a very conventional appearing bunch. For our 
WEIGHING SPRAYING MATERIALS. Fig. 65. 
retail trade, the violets are put together in a more 
careless and graceful manner. This method could not 
be used for shipping, for they would not bear handling 
as well as the compact bunches. The trade offers much 
that adds to the beauty of the violet in the way of 
violet-colored ribbons, <-'ords, boxes, paper, etc., and the 
retailer finds it to his interest to use them. The sea¬ 
son lasts until about the middle of April, though the 
most abundant crop is in February and March. As 
soon as the violets are gone the old plants are thrown 
out, and the young plants are put in the field. It is 
important in the cultivation of crops under glass that 
the soil never be idle. After considerable experiment¬ 
ing we decided to grow cucumbers for our Summer 
crop. We have our plants, one or two feet high, grown 
in pots, ready to go in beds immediately when the 
violet plants are taken out. These vines are trained 
up over the pipes next to the glass, making a very 
attractive picture by the middle of June. We usually 
cut our first cucumbers as early as May 10, and con¬ 
tinue cutting until those grown out of doors appear 
on the market. The variety of violet grown is Marie 
Louise, a double sort, with a few of the California, sin¬ 
gle flowered, to supply foliage for both. 
WHAT THE WORK MEANS.—I have often hesi¬ 
tated to tell the story of my work in print, because 
of the immoderate tales told by other growers. If 
their stories be true, then I have not been successful 
according to what they would term success; but I have 
found that there were fairly good returns for the out¬ 
lay of capital and labor, and I have also found that 
my income as a violet grower is larger than what- I 
could earn as a teacher or in office work, even though 
i might command the highest salary that I know of 
any of my friends, engaged in these occupations, re¬ 
ceiving. In many ways I work harder than my friends 
who are doing different work. I probably have more 
care and responsibility than I would if I were working 
on a salary. I cannot always be tidy and attractive in 
personal appearance. My hands show the marks of 
out-of-door toil. But there are over-balancing features. 
1 am in my own home; I am not dependent on the 
pleasure of another as to my holding my position; I 
go and come as 1 please. Indeed, I wish 1 might 
make more of my sister breadwinners realize that they 
could earn a pleasanter and better livelihood in spe¬ 
cializing along some of the lines which nature is con¬ 
tinually offering to them. ida l. Chittenden. 
Michigan. 
THE LIME AND SULPHUR WASH WITH¬ 
OUT BOILING. 
Practical Methods in Making and Application. 
Many persons do not spray with lime and sulphur 
because they believe that a rather elaborate and ex¬ 
pensive outfit is necessary for cooking the mixture. 
In a large orchard this is more essential than else¬ 
where; yet orchards of 9,000 and 12,000 trees (mostly 
peach) were sprayed last season in Connecticut, and 
all of the materials cooked by the steam from a porta¬ 
ble engine boiler of five or six horse-power capacity. 
One man sprayed 400 bearing peach and plum trees, and 
boiled the mixture with steam from the heating plant of 
his house. Iron kettles and feed cookers can be use*d 
nicely, and the writer has boiled the materials in an 
agate-ware kettle on the stove. But if not convenient 
we need not boil it at all. We can use a slightly dif¬ 
ferent mixture, which can be made without boiling, 
and spray we must, or cut down our trees. 
I he lime-sulphur washes prepared without arti¬ 
ficial boiling, which were used in Connecticut last 
season, gave very good results. The best of these were 
second only to the boiled mixture, and in some 
cases seemed to equal it. The mixtures giving the 
best results in our tests were: 1, Lime, sulphur and 
caustic soda. 2, Lime, sulphur and sodium sulphide. 
3, Lime and potassium sulphide. Which one of these 
would I advise? In a small home garden I should 
advise No. 1, because it is cheaper than No. 3, and 
while it is not cheaper than No. 2, it is easier to ob¬ 
tain the materials. Caustic soda can be purchased from 
the druggist, and if he happens to be out of it, take 
some common household lye that you can buy at 
the grocer’s—perhaps you might better go to the gro¬ 
cer’s and get this at first. 
How to make it? Weigh out the materials as fol¬ 
lows; Lime (fresh, hard lumps), 20 pounds; sulphur 
(light flour), 14 pounds; caustic soda or lye, five 
pounds; water, 40 gallons. A mixing barrel must be 
procured. For this purpose an oil barrel, or even a 
good tight flour barrel will answer. Start the lime 
slaking, using a little water at first, and stir constantly; 
when the action is well started add the sulphur and 
enough water to prevent burning. The heat generated 
by the lime in slaking will dissolve part of the sulphur. 
When the lime has all slaked throw in the soda and 
mix by stirring; be ready with water, because the soda 
will cause the mixture to boil violently, often over¬ 
running the barrel. Only a little water should be 
added, however, because it cools off the mixture, and 
we must keep it just as hot as possible and still in 
liquid form. When the action has ceased allow the 
mixture to stand for 20 or 30 minutes, then dilute and 
apply. Last year the sodium sulphide 
came in large solid lumps that had to 
be broken before using, as the large 
lumps do not dissolve readily enough. 
Now it can be obtained in proper con¬ 
dition for use. 
In using this sulphide we use less sul¬ 
phur, because the sulphide itself fur¬ 
nishes considerable sulphur. In our tests 
two formulas were followed: 
A. Lime, 20 pounds; sulphur, 6 pounds; 
sodium sulphide, 6 pounds; water, 40 
gallons. B. Lime, 20 pounds; sul¬ 
phur, 11 pounds; sodium sulphide, 11 
pounds; water, 40 gallons. The reason 
for using B was simply to test a stronger 
mixture, containing nearly double the 
quantities of sulphur and sodium sul¬ 
phide. It gave better results than A, but 
the quantities of sulphur and sulphide 
could probably be reduced a little and 
still make an effective spray mixture. 
The same outfit that has just been de¬ 
scribed will serve for making this mix¬ 
ture. After the lime begins to slake vig¬ 
orously, throw in the sulphur and the pulverized sodi¬ 
um sulphide and stir well. There is no violent boil¬ 
ing as when the caustic soda was used, but the sul¬ 
phide dissolves readily and is in itself an excellent 
solvent of sulphur, dissolving more sulphur when cold 
than caustic soda. When the lime is thoroughly 
slaked keep the mixture hot as before by not adding 
unnecessary water, and allow it to stand for twenty 
to thirty minutes before diluting and spraying upon 
the trees. 
The method of preparing is shown in the accompany¬ 
ing illustrations, Figs. 65 and 67, and Fig. 75, page 165. 
We have used lime and sodium sulphide without 
the extra sulphur, depending on the sulphide for all 
of the sulphur contained in the mixture, but the chemi¬ 
cal action between the sulphide and the lime forms 
caustic soda to such an extent that the resulting mix¬ 
ture is hard to handle on account of its caustic action 
MIXING THE LIME AND SULPHUR. Fig. 67. 
on the skin. But in using the material as a solvent 
for more sulphur, its causticity is much reduced, be¬ 
ing then more like the boiled mixture. Lime and 
potassium sulphide make a mixture that seems to 
be less caustic than if sodium sulphide is employed, 
and we never have added extra sulphur to it; but the 
potassium sulphide furnishes considerable sulphur. In 
preparing this we usually dissolve the sulphide in 
water in a pail or tub, slake the lime in a barrel and 
when both are in liquid form put them together, dilute 
and apply. This is too expensive, however, except 
for small garden trees and shrubs. Copper kettles, 
receptacles, or strainers should not be used, as they 
are badly corroded by the mixture. Pails made of 
compressed, wood fiber or pulp soon lose their coating 
