1012 . 
103 - 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FRAMES AS A FACTOR IN TRUCK 
GROWING. 
PART II. 
Irrigation must of course be provided. 
Many truckers use the overhead sprinkling 
device for their frames, having large mains 
for conducting the water and a series of 
overhead pipes for distributing it through 
a great number of small nozzles. By this 
method the water can be applied during 
bright weather and while flic doth is drawn 
to one side for ventilation. The lines of 
distributing pipes are so arranged that the 
nozzles are all in a line, and the pipes 
can be rotated so as to throw the water 
in either direction, thus watering two or 
three beds from one line of pipe. Where 
the sprinkler system of watering is not em¬ 
ployed the work is generally done with one- 
inch garden hose attached to pipes laid in 
the ground just deep enough to be out of 
the way of plowing and cultivation. At the 
points where it is necessary to attach the 
hose a tee is inserted in the pipe and the 
opening provided with a one-inch globe or 
gate valve. These openings should be 
about 100 feet apart in one direction and 
in each alternate space between rows of 
frames in the other direction. The valves 
are protected by a square box of planks, 
about 8x10 inches in size and extending 
about 14 inches above ground. The valves 
should be about even with the surface of 
the soil; thus, the top portion of the box 
not only protects the valve from injury but 
also affords a support for the hose to pre¬ 
vent its bending sharply over the end of 
the pipe connection and thereby cutting 
off the flow of water. Under ordinary con¬ 
ditions twice a week is often enough to 
apply water; once a week in Winter. The 
work should be done thoroughly, but not 
too often, or “damping-off’ will result. So 
far subirrigation has not been found desir¬ 
able in frames. 
The temperature at which the air of the 
beds should be carried will depend entirely 
upon the crop being grown. Thermometers 
should be placed at intervals in the beds, 
as it is not safe to judge the temperature 
by personal sensation. If lettuce, parsley, 
or radishes are growing in the beds, the tem¬ 
perature should not go above 70 degrees F. 
before ventilation is given; on the other 
hand, if the frames are filled with cucum¬ 
bers. eggplant, or peppers, the temperature 
may run 8 or 10 degrees higher. It should 
be borne in mind that any covering, whether 
cloth or sash, will exclude a part of the 
light, and every precaution is necessary to 
prevent the plants becoming “drawn.” A 
high board fence or evergreen hedge is often 
used as a wind-break, surrounding the area 
occupied by frames. Straw or burlap mats 
are often used to cover frames where freez¬ 
ing is feared. 
Among the crops grown in frames are let¬ 
tuce, radishes, cucumbers, beets, parsley, 
eggplant, peppers and snap beans. Lettuce 
may be considered the most important crop 
grown in frames, the hardier types of head 
lettuce, such as Big Boston, being grown. 
Two crops of lettuce are usually grown, an 
Autumn or early-Winter crop and a late- 
Winter or Spring crop. The seed for the 
Autumn crop is sown from August 15 to 
September 10, the plants being set in the 
beds from September 15 to October 15. As 
a rule, the plants are set about 8x10 inches 
apart in the beds. The Autumn crop will 
be ready for market from November 20 
to January 1. Seed for the Spfing crop 
is sown during October in the open ground 
or in beds and set in the frames as fast as 
the first crop is removed. The second crop 
will be ready for market from March 1 
until superseded by the outdoor lettuce. In 
order to secure stocky plants the seed bed 
should not be so rich as the soil where the 
crop is to be grown. As very little cultiva¬ 
tion can be given the lettuce crop in the 
beds, it is essential that the soil should 
be well prepared and very rich. Plenty of 
organic matter is required, and this is best 
obtained by applications of well-rotted ma¬ 
nure. Lettuce does best under compara¬ 
tively cool conditions, and plenty of ventila¬ 
tion is necessary. Heavy losses have re¬ 
sulted from the careless methods followed 
by many of the growers of lettuce in frames, 
especially as regards ventilation and water¬ 
ing. Radishes are often grown as a catch 
crop between Autumn and Spring crops of 
lettuce, or as a filler between cucumbers, 
eggplants or peppers. Varieties favored are 
Scarlet Globe, French Breakfast, Long 
Scarlet, Short Top and Icicle. Cucumbers 
are a very important crop, especially around 
Norfolk. The plants are started about the 
first of February, seven to 10 seeds being 
sown in a one-quart berry box, and then 
started in a manure hotbed. The plants 
are thinned to three in a box, and are 
planted in the frame after lettuce and 
radishes have been removed. In addition 
to the manure that is applied to the land 
before planting to cucumbers, frequent top 
dressings of chemical fertilizers are given. 
First, when the plants are just beginning 
to form vines a handful of fertilizer is 
scattered around each hill; none of this, 
however, is placed nearer than six or eight 
inches from the hill. At the same time the 
soil is given a hoeing and later in the day 
is watered. In about three weeks, when 
the vines are 18 inches or two feet long, 
the soil is given another dressing with fer¬ 
tilizer, this time making the application 
at a greater distance from the hills. The 
fertilizer generally used for this purpose 
contains about seven per cent of nitrogen, 
six per cent of phosphoric acid, and six 
per cent of potash. About the time the 
vines fill the entire space in the frame the 
weather is warm enough to leave the sash 
off, at first during the day, and 
later both day and night; until dan¬ 
ger of frost is past the sash are piled 
near the frame, so as to be used if neces¬ 
sary. After all danger of frost is past the 
sash are hauled and placed in the store¬ 
house for the Summer, and the boards form¬ 
ing the sides of the frames where they will 
be protected. The cucumber vines are then 
turned up, first on one side and then on 
the other, a third top-dressing of commer¬ 
cial fertilizer is given, and the space be¬ 
tween the rows formed by the removal of 
the frames is thoroughly cultivated. After 
cultivation the vines are again turned into 
place and allowed to occupy the entire 
space. If spraying is properly attended to, 
the cucumbers continue to produce until 
the field crop of the same locality is ready 
for shipment in large quantities. After 
the crop is no longer profitable the area 
should be cleared of all refuse and put in 
shape for the next year’s operations. A 
crop of cow peas may very conveniently bo 
grown upon the land during the Summer 
and used for hay or turned under. 
Parsley is sometimes grown as an all- 
year crop, or it is grown during the Au¬ 
tumn and Winter and the land devoted 
to lettuce or cucumbers during the Spring. 
The parsley seed is sown in August or 
September and the seedlings transplanted 
to the frames as soon as they arc large 
enough to be handled. Cutting of the leaves 
begins in the Autumn and continues 
throughout the Winter, and often until 
quite late in the Spring provided prices re¬ 
main good. Parsley is not easily injured 
by cold, and it is customary to remove the 
sash and frames early in the Spring and 
take them to some other location where 
they may be used for the growing of cu¬ 
cumbers, eggplant, or some other less hardy 
crop. 
Eggplants are started in heated beds or 
small greenhouses, and transplanted from 
the seed bed to small pots, from which 
they are shifted to larger pots. It is not 
safe to set them in the frames till the 
weather is quite warm. Beets are either 
started in a seed bed, and then trans¬ 
planted into the frame, where they grow 
to marketable size, or they are started in 
the frame and then transplanted to the 
open ground. Beans are often started in 
every third row of Spring-crop lettuce; 
then, after danger of frost is past, the en¬ 
tire frame is removed, leaving the beans to 
grow as a field crop. Wax-podded varie¬ 
ties are generally grown. 
Among diseases attacking frame crops, 
lettuce drop or wilt is often quite trouble¬ 
some. Cleanliness, removal of all dead 
leaves, burning of affected plants and care 
in watering are preventives. If the land 
seems heavily affected, it should be steril¬ 
ized with steam, and all woodwork of the 
frames disinfected with one per cent solu¬ 
tion of formaldehyde. Downy mildew and 
anthracnose of cucumbers should be pre¬ 
vented by spraying witli Bordeaux, 3-6-50 
or 5-5-50. The spraying should begin be- 
for the plants leave the hotbed, and con¬ 
tinue every 10 days or two weeks. Aphids 
and cutworms are sometimes troublesome, 
the former being controlled by tobacco 
fumigation, or a mulch of tobacco stems, 
but cucumber growers find that if the 
stems remain in the frame indefinitely they 
injure the plants, so they are removed 
after three or four days. Cutworms are 
poisoned with bran and Paris green or re¬ 
moved by hand-picking. As frame-grown 
produce is usually superior to field-grown 
it should command a better price; hence it 
should be given more care in handling and 
marketing. The author of this bulletin 
thinks it would be well if such produce 
could be shipped in characteristic packages, 
but in most eases the style of shipping is 
similar to that used in marketing outdoor 
crops of the same kind. 
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