Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
149 
All About the Greenhouse Business 
Our city has no greenhouse. I am 
almost 18 years of age, and am much in¬ 
terested in the forcing of vegetables and 
flowers under glass. Although I have had 
an increasing business in market garden¬ 
ing for the past four years, I have had 
no experience, and have but little knowl¬ 
edge of the greenhouse, so I have come 
to you for the best advice at your dis¬ 
posal. Would a greenhouse in a city of 
3,(X)0 be a business opportunity? (’ould 
it be devoted to the growing of vegetables 
during early Winter and to plants and 
flowers from about March 1, on? Or 
would it be more advisable to grow only 
vegetables, such as lettuce, radishes, 
onions, etc., or to devote it exclusively 
to the forcing of flowers? I low long 
would such a greenhouse need to be? Ap¬ 
proximately. at present prices, how much 
would one cost? AViiat yearly net profit 
could I expect? IIow many yi'ars’ experi¬ 
ence would I need before beginning a bus¬ 
iness of my own? I finish high school 
this year and am undecided as to whether 
I should take up greenhouse work at the 
Nebraska University next Fall, or go to 
Omaha and work a year at the business 
first. K. T. T. 
Nebraska. 
It. T. T. certainly wishes to have every 
angle of the greenhouse proposition eluci¬ 
dated. This is undoubtedly the proper 
method in which to engage in an enter¬ 
prise, the natiu’o of which is not entirely 
familiar to the person desiring to engage 
ed a house 30x100 feet at a cost of about 
.$3,(m If R. T. T. expects to devote 
his entii-e time during the Winter to car¬ 
ing for the greenhouse the above size 
would possibly be large enough to keep 
him busy. If crops are planned to follow 
the preceding one closely, and the entire 
available space is continually producing 
first-class crops, the returns should aver¬ 
age 50 cents per scpiare foot per annum. 
One of our neighbors who has a green¬ 
house somewhat larger than above men¬ 
tioned, cropped along these lines with a 
few cold frames, claims to have an in¬ 
come of near .$1 per square foot. To 
reach this figure con.stant application and 
hard work are ever nec-essai‘y. From ob¬ 
servation and experience I am sure more 
places lire run at an average income of 
25 cents per foot or less, than 50 cents 
or over. 
.7 ust a few items may be mentioned con¬ 
tributing to the present increased cost; 
Two-inch pipe a few years ago sold as 
low as seven to nine cents per foot; now 
it is 18 to 22 cents per foot. Glass was 
$2.50 to $3 per box of 10x2-1, and at pres¬ 
ent is about $7.50 per box. Labor is 
nearly doubled and almost impossible to 
get at the advance. 
A Modest Greenhouse Elstablishment 
in the venture, for a venture it is. and 
the outcome will dei)eud more upon the 
man than the line of stock planted in the 
greenhouse, 
I am entirely unfamiliar with condi¬ 
tions in Nebraska, and can only offer in¬ 
formation based upon experience gleaned 
in I’ennsylvania. The towns and cities 
of Nebraska are undoubtedly stocked, and 
sometimes overstocked, with vegetables 
from the South throughout the Winter, as 
our Lancaster markets. In competition 
with these Southern vi'getables. well-grown 
greenhouse vegetables always bring a 
pric(> that pays a fair profit to the grower, 
and I should think the same conditions 
would result almost anywhere in the 
country. After a fair trial most people 
prefer, and will pay a higher price for 
greenhouse-grown lettuce, radishes and 
especially tomatoes, than for the goods 
pulled before maturity and shipped long 
distances to market. 
A combination of lettuce and radishes, 
followed by tomatoes plantrKl among either 
the lettuce or radish crops about March 
15 should bring fair returns to the care¬ 
ful grower. At present there is .a great 
demand everywhere for vegetable plants 
for war gardens. This demand for veg¬ 
etable plants is abnormal at present, but 
there is always a demand for many thou¬ 
sand well-grown plants each .season in 
every community. Cabbage, cauliflower, 
beet, eggplant, pepper, tomato and let¬ 
tuce are the varieties in greatest demand, 
and thousands of these seedlings can be 
germinated on shelves supported at the 
sides of a greenhouse and afterwards 
transplanted to flats in hotbeds or cold 
frames. 
Prof. Watts of Pennsylvania State Col¬ 
lege recently published an excellent book 
on vegetable forcing, which The R. N.-Y. 
can supjfly. Price $2. This or some 
similar book on vegetable forcing would 
be of great assistance to oni‘ entering the 
business without previous greenhouse 
training. 
To build greenhou.ses at present is an 
expensive undertaking. The outlay would 
be more than double what it was two 
years ago, when a neighbor of ours erect- 
liepre.sentatives of the greenhouse con¬ 
structing firms inform me that there is 
practicall.v no commercial building being 
done at present. I do not know whether 
or not the vegetable growers are as con¬ 
servative in this respect as the flower 
growers. 
Florists have been- alarmed over the 
coal situation, by various rumors that 
the Fuel Administration contemplated cut¬ 
ting off the fuel supply for flower grow¬ 
ing, considering it a non-essential. A 
committee of the Society of American 
Florists visited the Fuel Administration 
at Washington and were informed that 
there is no intention to destroy any in¬ 
dustry, but discouraged increasing the 
amount of coal consumed, advising every 
possible economy, cutting off houses dif¬ 
ficult to heat, and even suggesting’ the 
substitution •f vegetables in part, in lieu 
of flowers. While giving the assurance 
that no drastic action towards cutting off 
our fuel supply at pre.sent was contem¬ 
plated, they made it quite plain that if a 
florist was unable to obtain coal through 
his regular source of supply they would 
not offer any assistance. 
While the business of the countr.v is 
entirely to win the war. a new venture of 
this sort would be looked upon more fa¬ 
vorably by the coal administration if in¬ 
tended for vegetable forcing and growing 
vegetable plants than for growing cut 
flowers. An ambitious high school grad¬ 
uate of 18, if a keen observer, working 
with a determination toward sutx-ess, 
with one year’s experience in a vegetable 
growing establishment, should be able to 
manage a small greenhou.se profitably. 
There are othei’s, though, who, with 10 
years’ experience, could not make enough 
from a 30xl00-foot house to pay the coal 
bill. EI.MEK J. WEAVEIi. 
Lancaster Co., Pa. 
T H.WEX’T any case.” admitted the 
client, ‘‘but I have money.” ‘‘IIow much?” 
“Sixty thousand dollars.” “Phew ! You 
have the best case I ever handled.” said 
the law'yer. “I’ll see that you never go 
to prison with that sum.” And the client 
didn’t—he went there broke.—Boston 
Transcript. 
'T^HIS is but one of the many big ad- 
* vantages you get in the La Crosse Happy 
Farmer. Think of wrhat this means in getting around 
the yard—in hauling the manure spreader—heavy 
loads on the road—turning square comers with the 
binder, plowing up to fences, etc. In the 
S® Happy 
Farmer ‘factor 
The Perfect Kerosene Burner 
you get a tractor that yon can adapt to handle prac¬ 
tically every form of power work on your farm. 
Simple in design—upkeep cut to a minimum. 
Patented short Intake with hot exhaust passing 
through it perfectly vaporizes the fuel charge. 
Heavy duty, twin cylinder motor—cylinders com¬ 
pletely water jacketed. Result—cool engine—cylin¬ 
ders always round—fuH power all of the time. 
Write for Description 
Learn how Happy Parmer f “ owners are raisim 
crops with less help and at i less expense. Wrii 
La Crosse Tractor | 
Company | 
Dept. ^ • La Crosse 
Wisconsiu 
We have a distributor or dealer near 
you for prompt service. Also ask about 
La Crosse Tractor-drawn implements. 
F or the first time American farmers 
can solve the drainage problem at 
U pB r low cost. Find out about this tool. 
Don’t put it off. Write for the new book that 
tells the story. 
f Ditcher 
& Grader 
All-Steet—Reversible—Lasts a Lifetime 
Cuts V-shaped farm ditch down to 4 ft. deep; cleans old 
ditches; grades roads; builds farm terraces, dykes and 
levees; works in any soil, wet or dry. 2, 4 and 6 
horse sizes; large size fine for tractor. Does work of lOO men. 
Write and find out how to make big crops sure. New free book 
on drainage, irrigation and terracing. Address 
OWENSBORO DITCHER AND GRADER CO._ ^ 
Box 834 OWENSBORO, KY. 
Model 20 
DRAINAGE 
SOLD ON 
W DAYS 
TRIAL 
WITTE Kero-Oil 
ENGINES 
Immediate Shipmeni 
2, 3,4,6,8,12,16 and 22 H-P.—Direct 
from the Largest Exclusive Engine Factory 
in the world, selling by malL Nothing but 
engines. Quick Service—Big Saving—90 Day 
Trial, 6-Year Guarantee. Fuel cost one-hall less 
using kerosene. Write for new book (copy- 
righted)“How To Judge Engines”,iprinted in colors 
and fully illustrated, showing how I can save 
you $16 to$200“8ell you on practically your own terms 
—Cash, Payments or No Money Down.—Ed. H. Witte. 
WITTE ENGINE WORKS 
1898 Oakland Ave.. Kansas City, Mo. 
11 “““ ~ • - -.- 
1895 Empire Bldg., 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 
I*-8 ' -V • V « 
The Rogers & Hubbard Go. 
Middletown, Conn. 
Office and Factory, Portland, Connecticut 
Dept. A 
Be Fair to Nature 
The FREDERICK COUNTY SPREADER 
is the machine you want, in order to be sure that 
your fertilizer is used to the best advantage. This 
machine is perfected by twenty-five years’ 
cal experience. It spreads all 
lime and commercial fertilizer 
on the land with an evenness of 
rain. Get our descriptive cata- 
logne,proving how this machine 
will serve and save you money as it 
done for thousands of farmers. 
We have their testimonials. Act 
now so that you can buy at the 
present low prices. We pay all 
freight and guarantee satisfaction. 
You run no risk. 
SHE GIVES YOU 
Where shall we send your 
catalogue? 
irs 
FREE! 
This machine is perfect in every 
detail and will la.st tiie average 
farmer a lifetime. Built for one 
Low Price and Quality Combined' 
.... . 11 .;. a, (..eLiiiie. i>uij(. lor one 
or two hoi-ses and so simple that aWJL'l* C 
woman can operate it if necessary. WOOdSDOro Lline spreader to. Dept. 0.40, Baltimore, Md. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you'll get a 
quick reply and a '‘square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
