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Vol. LXVII. No. 3025 . 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 18 , 1908 . 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
A HOMEMADE GREENHOUSE, 
And How It Is Managed With Profit. 
We have derived so much satisfaction and profit 
from a rather inexpensive and simple side-hill green¬ 
house, which we have had in use for some years, in 
connection with cold frames, while we could not afford 
a more substantial structure, that it would seem 
others, similarly situated, might benefit by a like ar¬ 
rangement. Aside from the sash there 
was very little expense connected with 
the construction of this, as the frames 
and sides were made mostly of bits of 
lumber that were gathered up about the 
place. It is made in three sections. 
That in the lower right hand corner, 
Fig. 22, was first constructed, which is 
covered by 24 sash, eacli 3 x 6 feet, three 
rows facing the south, six in each row, 
and one row on the northern slope. The 
sash rest on a simple frame made of 
2 x 4 scantlings supported by two end and 
two middle posts under each 2 x 4 , where 
the sash lap. The drawing, Fig. It), 
shows -the arrangement of the beds. The 
upper bed, No. 1, was made by laying 
short boards on the ground at the north 
end and the ends along the walk, squared 
off and nailed to a support on a row 
of short posts, making a sort of bench 
under which the flue passes to the chim¬ 
ney, at A. No. 2 is a bench on the same 
height as No. 1. (By the way, this is 
enclosed with wire netting underneath, 
and this space used for early hatched 
chicks, hatching hens, or for storing 
squash in the Fall.) No. 3 a is a bench 
about three feet lower than No. 2, while 
No. 3 b is a platform raised near the 
glass (used to start boxes of seedlings 
on mostly), so as to make room to walk 
under in passing to the lower bed, which 
is right down on the ground, the passage 
being dug out, as also for firing, a 
chunk wood stove heating the house 
from this “dug-out” under this platform, 
where it connects with an eight-inch 
sewer pipe flue. As indicated by the 
drawing, the flue gradually rises to the 
chimney. 
An extension was next built to this 
toward the left, which is somewhat sim¬ 
ilarly arranged, but without permanent 
beds, having only benches to hold plant 
boxes or “flats.” The part at the top 
was added afterwards, having two rows 
of sash on the southern slope and one 
row on the north, and this is mostly used 
without fire heat. The two beds are 
mostly on • the ground, with a dug-out 
passage to walk between. 
With slight modification according to 
season and requirements our method of 
management has been about as follows: 
About February 1 we put on the sash 
and fire up the part of the house first described, fix 
up the beds ready for planting by adding some new 
soil, fine manure or fertilizer, as seems to be re¬ 
quired, and plant the beds with our best lettuce plants 
from cold frames. We always provide for this by 
sowing several beds of Grand Rapids lettuce, one in 
September and one in October. When Winter sets 
in we put on the sash, with possibly an extra cover¬ 
ing in very severe weather, and in this way we 
always have good plants ready when we need them, 
and save a lot of time that would be required to grow 
them with fire heat. If the ground happens to be 
frozen when we need the plants we can generally pry 
it up in large chunks, with the plants, and carry in 
the greenhouse to thaw. We are very particular to 
use only large plants, disturbing them as little as pos¬ 
sible in transplanting by taking as much dirt with 
them as possible, and giving a good watering as soon 
as set out, so as to get the crop out of the way by 
the time the space is required for other things. We 
generally fill the beds in this way, leaving the plat¬ 
form above the stove, on which we place the plant 
boxes or “flats” sown with our early cabbage seed 
pretty thickly; also putting some of the flats, sown 
in this way, from one bed to another across the walks. 
We do some pretty attentive firing now for a few 
days till the cabbage comes up. After this we keep 
it quite cool till the rough leaves appear, when we 
start up the other part of the house with the flat 
benches to hold the flats. We now move all the seed¬ 
lings into this part, which we keep quite cool to avoid 
damping off and getting spindly, transplanting all the 
seedlings into flats. Our flats are of size to hold 104 
plants ( 13 x 8 ) l l / 2 inch apart each way. The space 
vacated by the cabbage seedlings is now filled in a 
similar manner by Earliana, Early Jewel and such 
tomatoes as we want for first early crop, only that we 
sow these seedlings quite thinly, so they can remain 
longer in the flats. We now keep this part much 
warmer than that where the cabbage plants are. By 
the time the tomatoes are ready to transplant we have 
a nice crop of lettuce. In fact, for some time before 
we begin to cut out every other row, and 
then every other plant in the remaining 
rows, finally taking it all, and after 
working up the beds we fill them with 
the early tomato seedlings, except the 
lower bed of lettuce, which will afford 
some cuttings after the other three beds 
arc gone. The space vacated by the 
early tomato seedlings is now filled up 
witli the late tomato seedling boxes, pep¬ 
pers, egg plants, etc., and the temper¬ 
ature raised still higher, as we have to 
be careful not to get it too warm for 
the lettuce as long as that remains, ex¬ 
cept the lower bed, which, being so low 
down, does not suffer very soon from 
the extra heat, and we never plant this 
to tomatoes except the late varieties. 
The early cabbage is later removed to 
cold frames and that space occupied 
with late tomatoes. The early tomatoes 
are mostly transplanted in frames with 
more space, and those remaining given 
more (space, with considerable space 
taken up with egg plants, peppers, etc. 
The north part is got ready late in Feb¬ 
ruary or early March, and planted to 
lettuce in a similar way to that planted 
first, except that we may .expect it to 
freeze a little there several times, as 
we have no fire heat there, but this will 
do no harm, and as it is protected by the 
hillside it seldom freezes much after 
this date. Aside from shelter from cold 
winds the hillside is quite an advantag ■ 
in watering. In our case a small stream 
in Spring forms a miniature Niagara 
right by the greenhouse, and with a lit¬ 
tle dam above we use a 100-foot hose 
and use it as a syphon in watering, and 
when this goes dry we use a hogshead 
on a boat or low wagon to draw' the' 
water above the hill and use the hose in ■ 
the same way. With lettuce it requires 
lots of water; on early tomatoes it is 
used sparingly, also on cabbage plants. 
When we are through with these crops 
the sash is taken off and piled up ovt 
of danger from loss by hail, etc., until 
needed again in the Winter. 
Ohio. C. WECKESSER. 
FERTILIZER FOR ASPARAGUS. 
Can you give me a formula for mixing 
a good fertilizer for asparagus? Can as¬ 
paragus be raised successfully with commer¬ 
cial fertilizers alone, and how much to the 
acre? Is salt of any great value to the crop? j. r. ir. 
Connecticut. 
There are a great many acres of asparagus raised in 
this locality where a complete fertilizer is used, and 
many of them are commercial brands bought from 
dealers for that express purpose. A fertilizer that 
will analyze four per cent nitrogen, eight phosphoric 
acid and 10 potash is as good an all-round article as 
can be recommended for general use. A formula for 
this mixture for asparagus only would be nitrate of 
soda 300 pounds, sulphate of ammonia 100 pounds, 
tankage 200 pounds, acid phosphate 1,000 pound.', 
