50 
House <2r Garden 
The single stake meth¬ 
od oj training tomato 
plants is especially suit¬ 
able under greenhouse 
conditions 
Chicory and sea kale 
are planted under the 
benches, bringing them 
in front outside a lit¬ 
tle at a time for forcing 
CONSCRIPTING THE GREENHOUSE 
The Practical Aspect of Gardening Jjnder Glass—What Vegetables Give 
Best Results and How They Should Be Planted 
WILLIAM C. McCOLLOM 
For the hardier vegetables, a cold- 
frame in conjunction with the 
greenhouse is a desirable feature 
W HY not conscript the greenhouse for war 
service ? There are very few people who 
realize the wonderful possibilities of the green¬ 
house in the production of food crops—not 
wheat or potatoes, to be sure, but many other 
products of everyday use and necessity. 
When our country was drawn into the war, 
the first impulse was for private owners to 
close their greenhouses. They feared public 
opinion, for one thing, and anticipated criti¬ 
cism regarding the operation of large green¬ 
houses which consumed quantities of coal and 
required the services of workmen that might 
be used to better advantage elsewhere. The 
high cost of coal and the scarcity of labor had 
their influence, too. Sound and practical as 
these economies may seem at first glance, how¬ 
ever, there is much which may be said on the 
other side of the question. 
The Greenhouse as a Food Factory 
If we give up the greenhouse entirely we 
shall be casting aside one of our very best op¬ 
portunities to increase the yield of food crops. 
It is a fact that if we have beans, spinach and 
other vegetables, we will use less bread and 
less potatoes. By increasing the variety of 
our diet we can reduce the pres- 
sure on certain staples limited in 
quantity. There are thousands 
of ranges of greenhouses in this 
country, and there are hundreds 
of thousands of single houses. 
In the majority of cases these 
are used for flowers, though pos¬ 
sibly a few early vegetables are 
started in them. I am now re¬ 
ferring only to greenhouses on 
private estates. If these glass 
gardens were devoted entirely to 
vegetables, they should yield 
three crops before it is again 
possible to have vegetables out 
of doors, the only exceptions be¬ 
ing crops that are continuous 
bearers, such as tomatoes, or 
those that it is impracticable to 
force, such as com, for example. 
Surely, here is something which 
■deserves our serious attention. 
The conversion of the greenhouse into a food 
factory can be accomplished by filling the 
benches with quick-growing vegetables, and 
placing under the benches others that will do 
well without full sunlight. When one crop is 
finished, another should be potted ready to re¬ 
place it, or immediately sown in the benches. 
All old greenhouses that have been aban¬ 
doned for one reason or another should be 
patched up and pressed into service. A green¬ 
house devoted to vegetable growing need not 
be of the most modern type, for vegetables are 
not exacting, and a house unsuitable for roses 
or orchids will answer the purpose very well. 
The labor situation is not serious. It will take 
only half as much help for a greenhouse de¬ 
voted to vegetables as is needed for flowers and 
miscellaneous crops, and failing expert gar¬ 
deners, others less skilled will give good re¬ 
sults, as vegetable growing under glass is com¬ 
paratively easy. A few general principles con¬ 
scientiously followed, a few simple require¬ 
ments satisfied, and worth while results are 
assured. For remember that the uncertainties 
of outdoor gardening are minimized here. 
One of the first essentials for the serviceable 
greenhouse is good soil. Prescribe the top soil 
from any good grass land, mixed 
with one-third its bulk of well 
rotted manure. To this should 
be added one shovelful of air- 
slacked lime and one of bone 
meal to every barrowful of the 
compost. It should be thor¬ 
oughly chopped, and then 
stacked up ready for use. 
What Can Be Grown 
The forcing vegetables can be 
divided into two classes: the 
warm vegetables that grow at a 
temperature of 60° nights, and 
the cool vegetables that thrive on 
a temperature of 50°. In each 
case the temperature can be in¬ 
creased about 8° to 10° during 
In cross-fertilizing tomatoes, the 
pollen is tapped from the flowers 
into a convenient receptacle 
