Commercial Gardening Vol1| by John Weathers (the Editor)

Preface

The very title of this work at once distinguishes it from all other treatises on Horticulture, and at the same time strikes a note indicating its predominant features. The work is commercial in ever...

Section I. General Aspects Of Commercial Gardening

During the past fifty or sixty years horticulture has sprung into a prominent position as one of the leading industries of the United Kingdom. Horticulture, unlike its twin sister agriculture, is not ...

The Seed Trade

This branch of commercial gardening has assumed immense proportions of late years. In various parts of the kingdom firms have established trial grounds where their seeds are not only saved, but where ...

The Bulb Trade

Although a large proportion of the bulb trade is undoubtedly Continental, there has been a magnificent effort on the part of British and Irish growers to produce large quantities at home. While such b...

The Hardy-Plant Trade

Of late years the trade in hardy plants has assumed almost gigantic proportions. Not only are large quantities of hardy herbaceous perennials actually sent to the various markets for sale packed in va...

The Nursery Trade

This branch of commercial gardening has extensive ramifications all over the kingdom. All kinds of plants, fruits, flowers, and vegetables are grown for sale in the open or under glass, and thousands ...

Market Gardening And Market Growing

The business of the market gardener and the market grower is different in a technical sense. The market gardener proper, as a rule, grows fruits and vegetables on a large scale in the same way that th...

The Florist Trade

There is scarcely a town of any pretensions in the British Islands that does not boast of at least one florist's shop. In large provincial towns there are many, and in the metropolis itself and its su...

Popular Florists' Flowers

Perhaps the florist attaches more importance to the colour than to the form of the flowers he uses in his business. As a rule, flowers with clear and distinct shades of colour are most appreciated; wh...

White Flowers

Taking the colours all in all, white is undoubtedly the most popular, and enormous quantities of white-flowered plants must be grown to meet the ever-increasing demand. Amongst the most important plan...

Trailers

For shower bouquets, festoons, and table decorations it is useful to have certain plants with slender trailing stems and foliage that will not soon wither. Amongst the best plants for this purpose a...

Foliage

For backing up many flowers used in wreaths, crosses, bouquets, etc, it is sometimes essential to have foliage that will throw the blossoms into greater relief, and a large number of plants are grown ...

Tree And Shrub Trade

This is a very important branch of commercial horticulture, and one about which the general public knows but little. It may be divided into two principal groups, viz.: (1) that dealing with forest tre...

Raising Forest Trees

The simplest method of raising these is from seeds. These are collected when ripe in autumn and carefully stored until the spring. In some cases, however, like the Willow, Poplar, Elm, in which the se...

Japanese Gardening

Although the introduction of the beautiful Japanese plants that now contribute to the charm of British gardens belongs to the distant past, it was not until some fifty years ago that commercial cultiv...

Japanese Gardening. Part 2

Of much interest is Iris Koempferi, which was introduced to this country from Japan in 1857, and attracted much attention when the large handsome and richly coloured flowers were first presented to pu...

Japanese Gardening. Part 3

Another rule of some importance is to avoid as far as practicable the planting of deciduous trees, with a few exceptions, in the more prominent positions of the garden. The exceptions are deciduous tr...

Section II. The Science Of Plant Growing. 1. Simple And Complex Cell Life

The successful cultivation of plants requires a close familiarity with their likes and dislikes, a knowledge of the conditions of their existence, and how to meet those conditions to the best advantag...

Simple Cell Life

A good conception of plant life in its simplest form may be obtained by an examination and study of some of the lower organisms, such as the green scum to be seen on damp walls or the trunks of trees,...

The Yeast Plant (Saccharomyces Cerevisioe)

The Yeast Plant (Saccharomyces Cerevisioe), such as is used by the brewer, if put in any clear liquid containing suitable food (malt, for instance), the liquid, if stood in a warm place for some hours...

2. Structure Of The Higher Plants. The Growth Of A Cell

The three plants already considered consist of a single cell, varying chiefly in size during their lifetime. Other plants, in an ascending scale of organization, consist of more or less numerous cells...

Changes In Cell Walls

Although the cells of the higher plants may be all very much alike when they begin life, they vary immensely in size, shape, and structure by the time they reach full development, their ultimate const...

Various Forms Of Cells

With the exception of lowly plants like the duckweeds, the flowering plants generally furnish examples of cells of great variety of form and length. Those which become thread-like, but thickened inter...

Plant Tissues

All the above forms of cells and many more unite in certain definite relations to one another, forming a tissue (fig. 9). Most flowering plants, Ferns, Lycopods, and Selaginellas have representatives ...

3. Plants Of Distinctive Character. Plants With Chlorophyll

Most plants with which the gardener has to deal contain chlorophyll or leaf green in their leaves and the superficial tissues of their stems, at least during the first year. It consists of a green pig...

Plants Without Chlorophyll

Amongst flowering plants many species, including the Broomrape (Orobanche) that lives attached to the roots of Clover, and the Dodders (Cuscuta) that live on Clover, Nettles, Hop, and other wild plant...

Desert Plants

Echeverias, Crassulas, and Aloes, from South Africa and Mexico, have fleshy stems and leaves. Cacti, including Epiphyllums from Brazil, Mamillarias and Phyllocacti, from Mexico and other warm and dry ...

Clammy-Leaved Plants

At first sight these may not seem peculiar, when Petunias and Salpiglossis are mentioned, for there are many other examples under cultivation. They are plants, however, which delight in sunshine and f...

Insectivorous Plants

Many plants, whose root system is not well developed, or which live in swampy places, where they have difficulty in procuring a sufficiency of nitrogen in the usual way, have evolved some peculiar con...

Climbing Plants

The Convolvulus, Wistaria, and Scarlet Runner are examples of plants that climb by twining their stems round some supporting object. If the top or free end of a Scarlet Runner is observed at different...

4. The Root And Its Work. The Primary Root

The first structure that emerges from the interior of a germinating seed is the primary root or radicle, which goes perpendicularly down into the earth. If the minute structure of the tip of this is e...

Importance Of Primary And Fibrous Roots

In general terms roots serve to fix the plant in the soil. The primary, descending root of forest trees is of considerable importance to many of them, like the Oak, Elm, and Ash, in preventing them fr...

Relation Of Soil To Roots

As already observed above, the root hairs of plants apply themselves very closely to the particles of soil, in order to absorb the thin film of water adhering to them. This film contains plant food in...

Water And Air Roots

While the roots of land plants can only absorb the film of water adhering to the particles of soil, the roots of water plants are able to absorb the free water with which they are surrounded. They are...

Tuberous Roots

The primary and secondary roots of the Dahlia become greatly swollen and spindle-shaped (fig. 17). The thickened portion is intended for the storage of reserve material with which to make a good start...

Work Of The Roots

In summarizing the above remarks it may be said that roots fix the plant in the soil, commence to absorb watery solutions of plant food at a very early stage; they breathe, and, in the case of land pl...

The Food Absorbed By Roots

Of the ten elements of plant food that are absolutely essential, all of them, except carbon and a small quantity of nitrogen, are absorbed by the roots. They are oxygen (the free oxygen of the air is ...

Contractile Roots

Apart from the functions already described, a large number of bulbous plants are provided with roots which have the power of contracting at certain periods, and thus pull down the bulbs or corms deepe...

5. The Stem And Its Functions. The Seedling Stem

Almost any seedling will serve to show the origin and development of the stem from an early stage of its growth. Fig. 19. - 1, 2, Seedling of Nasturtium (Trvpceolum majus). 3, 4, Seedling of Water...

The Growth And Thickening Of The Stem

As the plumule grows and develops into a stem of some length in the Stock or China Aster, it is seen to be self-supporting, because the thickness and woody matter in the interior is proportionate to t...

The Cambium

Even in winter, when the trees are leafless and comparatively at rest, the thin-walled cells of the cambium are small and filled with protoplasm; it really constitutes the only live portion of the tre...

Dicotyledonous And Monocotyledonous Stems

The above descriptions relating to the thickening of stems and the cambium layer apply entirely to Dicotyledons. The structure of a three-year-old stem is represented by fig. 21. Trees and shrubs are ...

Bulbs, Corms, Tubers, And Rhizomes

A bulb is really a very much enlarged bud, consisting for the most part of leaves, with a very short and thin flat stem. Lilies have scaly bulbs (fig. 23), while Hyacinths, Tulips, Daffodils, and Onio...

6. Leaves And Their Work. Seed Leaves And True Leaves

The first leaves of a plant are those formed in the seed, and which may or may not rise above-ground during germination. Those of the Cabbage, Mustard (fig. 13), Gourd (fig. 18), Beech, and Onion rise...

Structure And Contents Of A Leaf

The naked-eye characters of a leaf may be seen in that of a Vine. The leaf is three- to five-lobed, with as many primary veins running from the base to the tip of each lobe. Smaller veins pass through...

Work Of A Leaf

The leaves and other green parts of a plant constitute a workshop of many compartments, in which the raw food materials are organized into more or less simple or complex substances for the building up...

Forms Of Leaves And Their Clothing

Seed leaves are always simple or in one piece, though they are lobed in a few cases. Simple leaves (fig. 33) are represented by those of the Cherry, Apple, Fuchsia, and Camellia. They may be more or l...

Arrangement Of Leaves

They are opposite or in pairs in the Carnation and Sweet William; in whorls of three in the Oleander, and in whorls of four, six, eight, or a higher number in species of Bedstraw. They are alternate i...

Modified Leaves

The scales on the bulb of a Lily are modified by being fleshy, without chlorophyll, and filled with starch. Those of the Daffodil and Onion are made up of the sheathing bases of leaves, and go right r...

The Fall Of The Leaf

From the earliest development of the leaf in spring, preparations are being made at the base of its stalk, whereby it will be thrown off in autumn in the case of deciduous trees and shrubs. This is br...

7. Movements Of Water And Food Products In Plants. Root Pressure

Having considered the mechanism and some of the properties and contents of roots, stems, and leaves, the way is now clear to discuss some of the phenomena exhibited by plants as a whole or in a connec...

Water Of Transpiration

As above stated, this current is set up by the action of the leaves, and by some has been described as a transpiratory pull. The effect it has towards the base of the stem is that of suction. It a...

Transport Of Food Materials

All the food of green plants is manufactured in the leaves and other green parts, and it follows that it must be transported or conveyed to the various points where growth is going on. When the tempo...

Water Plants

As these contain little (or no) woody matter in their tissues the rise of sap is of a feeble character, but when wholly submerged there is no transpiration current at all. When the roots are in soil, ...

Sap In Winter

When the leaves fall in autumn, transpiration ceases. Root pressure continues till all the tissues get filled with water and turgid, including the cavities of the wood fibres and vessels, which also c...

Bleeding

If a Vine rod is cut into the wood in spring, before the expansion of the leaves, it will bleed strongly for many days, and may even die or become so weak as to be useless. Its tissues are gorged with...

8. Modes Of Growth And Vegetative Reproduction. Monopodial And Sympodial Stems

When a seedling of a shrub or tree has completed its first year's growth, it usually terminates in a bud, covered with scales. If, on the resumption of growth next spring, this bud continues the growt...

Forms Of Inflorescence

When flowers occur singly at the end of an axis, as in the Tulip, it is terminal and solitary; and when only one flower is produced in the axil of an ordinary leaf it is termed axillary and solitary. ...

Flower Buds And Pruning

The art of pruning cannot be properly accomplished without a close study of the habit and mode of growth of each species of plant whose cultivation is undertaken. The object of pruning in each case sh...

Propagation By Roots

Many plants may be propagated by cutting up the roots into short lengths and inserting them as cuttings, and in the absence of seeds they may be rapidly increased in this way. The roots of the Gean (P...

Propagation By Stems

This is the most common method of increasing plants, whether by cuttings, budding, grafting, inarching, layering, rhizomes, corms, eyes, or runners. Due care must be taken as to the likely places wher...

Propagation By Leaves

Many Ferns, including a large number of Aspleniums (fig. 46), Bryophyllum calycinum (tig. 46), Tolmicea Menziesii, Cardamine pratensis, and its double variety naturally produce buds on the margins, ba...

9. The Flower And Its Functions. The Parts Of A Flower

Phanerogams, or flowering plants, differ from Ferns and other vascular plants in the great modifications which the leaves have undergone in the construction of the flower. A complete flower consists o...

1. The Calyx

The number of parts forming the calyx varies, but four (as in the Wallflower) and five (as in the Buttercup) are extremely common numbers. These parts are situated on the outside of the flower proper,...

2. The Corolla

The second set of organs, proceeding inwards, constitutes the corolla; and, if the parts are free, they are termed petals, as in the Buttercup, Rose, Camellia, Sweet Pea, and Strawberry (fig. 47). Ver...

3. The Stamens

These are situated just inside the corolla, and may vary from one to a hundred or more in one flower. They consist of a filament or stalk, comparable to a leaf stalk, and an anther on the top, corresp...

4. The Pistil

This includes all the organs in the centre of the flower, and being the female parts of the same, are as essential to it as the stamens. Taking the White Lily as an example, the lower, inflated portio...

5. The Ovule

A young seed before it has been fertilized is termed an ovule. A Buttercup or Strawberry contains only one ovule in each carpel; a Cherry or Peach contains two, but only one reaches maturity. The Pea ...

6. The Receptacle

After all the parts of a flower have been removed there remains, as a rule, a small core or axis, which is the receptacle, and is really a very short piece of stem that bore the various floral leaves ...

Pollination And Fertilization

When pollen is carried from the stamens of one flower by insects, the wind, or other agency, and deposited on a stigma of another flower, the process is called pollination. If the pollen is placed on ...

Sexual Reproduction

Except in minor details this is accomplished much in the same way in all vascular plants, which include Ferns, Selaginellas, and their allies. The pollen grains of a flowering plant are equivalent to ...

Cross-Breeding And Hybridization

When pollen is taken from the flower of one variety and placed on the stigma of another variety of the same species, and plants raised from the seeds so obtained, the process is rightly termed cross-b...

Various Forms Of Fruit

As the result of the fertilization of the egg cell and the production of an embryo, the pistil becomes the young fruit. Usually this includes only the ovary and stigma, with the style if present, as w...

Seeds

When the ovule is fertilized by the union of the nucleus of the pollen tube with the egg cell it becomes a seed. At this stage it consists of three parts: (1) The testa, or skin, made of two layers or...

Germination

The essentials to germination are air, moisture, and a suitable temperature. The oxygen of the air is necessary for the purpose of respiration, to keep the embryo alive even while it is resting in the...

Section III. Methods Of Propagation

In commercial gardening enormous numbers of plants are disposed of each year from the open ground and from under glass, and as soon as one crop is finished, another, as a rule, is ready to take its pl...

Section III. Methods Of Propagation. Continued

Seed Warehouses Name of Plant. Date of Sowing. Date of Germinating. Number of Days. African Marigold ............ April 4 April 9 5 African Mari...

Vitality Of Seeds

While some seeds retain their vitality or power of germinating for twenty years or more, it is generally safer to utilize fresh and well-ripened seed to secure good plants. The stories circulated as t...

Seed Sowing

Seeds are sown in the open air either broadcast or in drills , and under glass in pots, pans, or boxes of varying sizes. In the latter case the gardener mixes his compost beforehand, and drains h...

Propagation By Cuttings

A very large number of plants may be raised by means of cuttings of the stems or shoots. Soft-wooded or herbaceous cuttings having leaves are used in many cases, the shoots being in a half-ripened con...

Propagation By Woody Cuttings

Many hardy trees and shrubs may be raised from leafless cuttings of the well-ripened young shoots. The best time to take these cuttings is about the end of October and during November, although many w...

Propagation By Leaf Cuttings

Many plants may be raised simply from leaves. The well-known Begonia Gloire de Lorraine and its relatives are largely raised in this way as well as from stem cuttings. Single leaves with stalk are ins...

Propagation By Ringing

This method of propagation may be called overhead layering. It consists in making an upward or circular slit in the stem of a plant that has become too tall or leggy. Some sphagnum moss and leaf mould...

Propagation By Root Cuttings

By cutting up the roots of certain plants into pieces 2 or 3 in. long, and covering them with about 1 in. of gritty soil, it is possible to raise new plants. This method of propagation may be practise...

Propagation by Layering

This method of propagation consists in making an incision in a branch or shoot, and then bending it down and covering with soil. Border Carnations are usually propagated by layering. In the open air ...

Propagation By Runners

A runner is a slender whip-like shoot sent out from the parent plant to root at some distance away, and at certain intervals to produce fresh plants. The Strawberry is the best-known example of a runn...

Propagation By Suckers

A sucker is an aerial shoot springing from an underground stem or root. Suckers usually have some fibrous roots attached to them, and when severed from the parent may be regarded almost as established...

Propagation By Offsets

Most true bulbous plants, like Tulips, Daffodils and Narcissi, Hyacinths, Liliums, Snowdrops, etc, produce offsets from the parent bulbs. When the offsets are detached and replanted they produce flowe...

Propagation By Bulbils

Many bulbous plants like Lilium bulbiferum and others produce seedlike bodies known as bulbils in the axils of the aerial leaves. These bulbils are capable of producing plants if sown in suitable so...

Propagation By Grafting

Unlike budding, where a single bud is used, grafting consists in affixing a shoot of one plant with two or more buds on to the stem of another in such a way that the cambium layer of one must come fac...

Propagation By Grafting. Part 2

Cleft And Rind Grafting In the case of old trees, having the stems many times thicker than the scions, whip grafting could not be conveniently done. The stocks are headed back at the proper season, a...

Propagation By Grafting. Part 3

Root Grafting Many plants are propagated by inserting a short shoot in a root of a relative or by side grafting. Most of the Tree Paeonies are raised by inserting a shoot in a cleft of a tuberous roo...

Section IV. The Science Of The Soil. 1. Introductory

When a man intends to grow fruits, flowers, or vegetables for profit his first consideration is the soil. This constitutes his chief raw material, and he knows that if he makes a mistake in its sele...

2. Classification Of Soils

Soils are classified in various ways, according to their texture and mechanical composition. Thus such terms as poor, hungry, cold, hot, wet, heavy, light, sour, sweet, are used to denote various cond...

Sand

Sand consists of small pieces of hard rock that have been broken down into various degrees of fineness or coarseness from such rocks as silica or flint, sandstone, quartz, granite, etc, by the action ...

Clay

This is also composed of fine particles, but much finer than in sand, and possessing different properties. The particles are soft and greasy to the touch when wet, and can be moulded into any form; th...

Loam

Sand and clay in about equal proportions, and with a quantity of organic material, constitute a loamy soil - the ideal soil for the horticulturist or agriculturist. When a loamy soil contains more s...

Chalk

A chalky soil is one derived from limestone rocks which, when burned, yield the lime of commerce. Lime differs from chalk in not containing carbonic acid gas; this was driven off in the burning. When ...

Lime

Lime, to use the popular term, is a most important ingredient in soils, and may be employed in various forms, such as marl, gypsum, quicklime, chalk, slaked lime, gas lime (or blue billy ). For a h...

Peat

This name has been applied to the remains of plants that have accumulated in the course of centuries on the margins of shallow lakes and in marshy land. The lakes or marshes gradually disappear with t...

Humus

While sand, clay, lime, and peat are all useful and necessary ingredients of every good garden soil, each one by itself would be practically useless. When mixed together in certain proportions they ar...

Advantages Of Humus

The addition of humus to the soil has physical and chemical effects. Physically humus absorbs and detains moisture; it raises the temperature of the soil and maintains it in an equable condition; it k...

3. Mechanical Analysis Of Soils

Besides an examination of the natural vegetation referred to at p. 90 the experienced plant-grower will also make a physical or mechanical examination. He will handle the soil, feel its texture, notin...

4. How Soils Have Been Made

It is from the sedimentary, organic, and igneous rocks that the farmer and gardener obtain the soil in which to grow their crops. When these rocks have been broken down into small particles and mixed ...

Water

Whenever rain falls it brings down a small quantity of carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere with it. It falls on the earth and washes away fine particles from the hill and mountain sides into the pla...

Frost

This is a powerful agent in producing a powdery soil. When water in the soil or in the crevices of hard rocks becomes frozen, it swells up and occupies more space. In cultivated soils the particles ar...

Heat

This has the effect of warming the soil, and water in it, causing both to expand and one of them (water) to evaporate. As water is driven out of the soil in this way air enters, and thus makes the soi...

Wind

This plays an important part in the formation of soils. It sweeps over the surface, taking away the moisture from it, and in dry weather the fine particles of dust and grit are borne from one place to...

Vegetation

It is thought that in the early stages of the earth's career only the lower forms of vegetable life could find a footing on its surface. The various Alga?, Lichens, Mosses, were able to pick up a liv...

5. Cultural Operations. Ploughing

Although regarded as being almost entirely an agricultural operation, many market gardeners also adopt this method of breaking up their open land, and often even use the plough between fruit trees and...

Digging

This operation is done with the spade or the fork. It is a much better way of turning up the soil than with the plough. Not only does the spade or fork go deeper, but the soil is turned over more comp...

Double Digging

Double digging consists in opening a trench twice as wide as in ordinary digging, and after the top spit has been removed, the bottom is then broken up but usually left in the same position. Manure is...

Trenching

This operation can only be carried out where there is a good depth of soil. Hence in hilly or mountainous districts, where only a few inches of soil rest on hard rock beneath, trenching and even doubl...

Ridging Up

This is an excellent cultural operation, and is almost equal in value to double digging. By digging a piece of ground lengthways, the soil from the trench is placed on the adjoining soil to the right ...

Raking And Harrowing

The rake is to the horticulturist what the harrow is to the agriculturist. They both have the same object in view - namely, to level the surface of the ground, and break the clods into powder so that ...

Rolling

This is also a horticultural and agricultural operation. Its object is to crush the clods still further, to make the surface more level, and to compress the particles sufficiently to hold moisture and...

Hoeing

The hoe does not receive from the farmer or gardener the respect to which it is entitled. It is kept lying idle very often until the land becomes foul with weeds that have robbed the land of much of i...

6. The Best Time To Work The Soil

Whether the soil is to be ploughed, dug, or trenched in spring or autumn will depend largely upon its nature. Generally speaking it is better to turn up heavy soils in the autumn and light soils in th...

7. Plant Foods In The Soil And Air

By means of experiment it has been proved that all green-leaved plants at least require certain essential foods to enable them to perform their functions properly. Some of these foods are absorbed fro...

7. Plant Foods In The Soil And Air. Part 2

Fruit Crops - Ash Analyses Name of Crop. Potash. Phosphoric Acid. Lime. Sulphuric Acid. Iron Oxide. Magnesia. Soda. Chlorine. Silica. Apple...

7. Plant Foods In The Soil And Air. Part 3

Vegetable Chops - Ash Analyses Name of Crop. Potash. Phosphoric Acid. Lime. Sulphuric Acid. Iron Oxide. Magnesia. Soda. Chlorine. Silica. C...

8. How To Extract Plant Foods From The Soil

Assuming that the soil contains the food supplies already tabulated, the only way to bring them within the reach of any crop is by a rational system of supplying organic manures (see p. 145) and by de...

8. How To Extract Plant Foods From The Soil. Continued

Expenses Per Acre £ s. d. 1st year, Trenching 3 ft. deep ... 12 0 0 2nd ,, Digging 1 ft. deep .... 2 0 0 3rd ,, ,, ,, ,, ....

9. Water In The Soil

Water, being essential for all plant growth, must be present in sufficient quantity in the soil, and in such a condition that it can be absorbed by the roots. Water may be in such abundance in some so...

How Moisture Is Lost

Soils lose moisture in four ways: (1) by natural evaporation from the surface; (2) by bad and shallow cultivation; (3) by transpiration from the leaves of the crops grown; and (4) by the leaves of wee...

Loss Of Water Through The Leaves

In addition to the water lost by natural evaporation and by shallow cultivation, a vast loss is sustained owing to the moisture that is given off from the leaves of the crops. Stephen Hales (b. 1677, ...

Loss Of Water Through The Leaves. Continued

Table Giving An Estimate Of The Amount Of Water Transpired From The Leaves Of Various Crops During The Growing Period Crop. Number of Plants to One Acre. Water given off per Plant per...

Movement Of Water In The Soil

We have already seen (p. 118) that the deeper a soil is cultivated the more water it will absorb, no matter what its character may be. This water sinks down and down until it comes to a level where wa...

Water Lost By Weeds

Many growers do not appreciate the quantity of water that is stolen from the soil by weeds. After all, weeds are plants - outcasts of the horticultural world, but they must live, if allowed to remain ...

The Upward Movement Of Moisture In Soils - Capillary Attraction

We have seen that according to the nature of the soil, and the depth to which it has been cultivated, large or small quantities of water are absorbed and sink to certain depths. If, however, the water...

Conserving The Moisture In Soil - The Use Of Hoeing And Mulching

While the aim of the open-air cultivator should be to prepare his soil for the reception of plenty of moisture and its ascent afterwards to the roots of his crops, he must also take care that the supp...

10. Living Organisms In The Soil

It has already been shown (p. 108) that mineral foods alone are insufficient to supply all that is needed for plant life. Scientific investigation has proved that the soil, if properly cultivated, is ...

Nitrification

The most important work done by these soil bacteria is to bring about the production of ammonium salts and convert them into nitrates. These bacteria are most active at a temperature of 86 F. (30...

Soil Inoculation

It has been known from the earliest times that leguminous plants (Peas, Beans, Clovers, Vetches, etc.) had a beneficial effect upon cultivated soils - crops of a different nature grew better after a l...

Denitrification

This is the term applied to denote that the nitrates in the soil have become changed into free nitrogen. The nitrates thus become lost. Denitrification is said to be due to certain bacteria, just as t...

Denitrification. Continued

II. Plot 2 B; Receiving Dung (14 Tons, Containing 200 Lb. Nitrogen A Year) lb. per Acre. Nitrogen present in 1865 (.1752 per cent).............. 4,343 Nitrogen suppli...

11. Sterilizing Soils

Of late years growers of Ferns, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, etc, have been much concerned as to the best means of rendering their plants immune from attacks of eelworm and other pests. The soil has been rega...

Burning And Steaming The Soil

Where a rational system of cultivation is not practised, recourse is had to steaming or burning the soil. Many growers of Ferns, for example, place the soil in receptacles of some kind, and have it bu...

12. Electrifying The Soil

From time to time scientists have turned their thoughts to the question of electricity in connection with the soil and plant growth, and numerous experiments have been carried out. The main object of ...

13. Soil Analysis

All growers, whether amateur or professional, are aware of the difficulty of estimating just what form of plant food is deficient, and usually it is only by more or less costly experiments that some b...

Chemical Analysis

The following is a minimum list of apparatus, some of which may be evolved from ordinary articles in everyday use, but the majority will need to be specially designed, or accuracy in results cannot be...

Chemical Analysis. Continued

Potash To estimate the potash a further 500 cub. cm. of the citric acid solution are evaporated to dryness and incinerated in a basin over a Bunsen burner to eliminate the organic matter. The residue...

Section V. Manures And Manuring. 1. Introductory

The word manure has now come to mean any substance that is placed on or in the soil with the object of fertilizing or enriching it in plant food. Originally the word meant working with the hand, h...

Misleading Experiments

Perhaps the most misleading thing about the application of certain manures in experimental gardens is that what is found to yield good results in one particular soil may prove to be quite useless on a...

The Object Of Manuring

The main object of manuring is to restore to the soil, in a more or less available form, the foods that have been taken out of it by the growth of crops. It is evident that if everything taken from th...

The Object Of Manuring. Part 2

Total Weight And Contents Of One Wagner Apple Tree, Thirteen Years Old, And Of Thirty.five Similar Trees To The Acre Total Weight. One Tree. 35 Trees to Acre. lb. lb...

The Object Of Manuring. Part 3

Table Showing In Round Numbers The Quantities Of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, And Potash Taken Out Of An Acre Of Soil By Various Crops Crop. Nitrogen. Phosphoric Acid. Potash. ...

2. Kinds Of Manures

Long before agricultural chemistry was thought of there were practically only two kinds of manure in use - farmyard or stable manure and lime. These constituted the stock of the farmer and market gard...

3. Complete Manures. Farmyard Manure Or Dung

This name is applied to solid and liquid excreta from animals, together with the litter that has been used for bedding down. Wheat straw is generally used for litter, but peatmoss litter has of late y...

Storing Farmyard Manure

In most cases, perhaps, farmyard manure is stacked or thrown loosely in heaps and left exposed to the weather. Unless frequently turned over and kept moistened with water or urine the manure heap will...

Value Of Farmyard Manure

Farmyard manure is a bulky manure, but in a good condition it is probably the best and safest of all manures, natural or artificial. Although 1 ton of it only contains from 9 to 15 lb. nitrogen, 4 to ...

A Warning

Although farmyard manure possesses the great virtues mentioned it must be used with care and intelligence. In some places, where large and cheap supplies are available, the soil is saturated with manu...

Green Manuring

This consists in growing a crop of some quick-growing plant, which when near maturity is to be ploughed in or dug into the soil, with the object of enriching it in humus or organic material and nitrog...

Leaves As A "Green Crop"

The subject of green manuring may be carried further than is generally supposed. There is scarcely a crop grown, whether fruits, flowers, or vegetables, that cannot be utilized in part as a green manu...

Roots As A Manure

Besides the overground stems and leaves of crops, one must not forget the roots. Although many crops are said to be cleared off the ground, the fact remains that a very large quantity of fibrous roots...

Guano

This is a valuable manure, consisting chiefly of the dried excrements and waste of sea birds, which have accumulated for centuries on the coasts and rainless districts of Chili and Peru. The famous tr...

Fish Guano

Soon after 1870, when the supply of Peruvian guano began to fail, it was thought that fish refuse might be utilized for the production of guano - especially as the latter manure came from birds that f...

Seaweed

Various kinds of seaweed have long been used as manure when obtainable in sufficient quantities round the coasts. The commonest kinds are species of Laminaria and Fucus, the latter genus supplying two...

Soot

This is principally composed of carbon, and is not only valuable as a manure, but also as a preventive against attacks of slugs, snails, caterpillars, etc. One ton of soot contains about 90 lb. nitrog...

Blood Manures

Blood may be regarded as a complete fertilizer, as it contains not only nitrogen (from 2 1/2 to 5 per cent in a fresh state, and from 6 to 14 per cent in a dried state) but is also rich in all other p...

Night Soil And Poudrette

Human excreta are rich in fertilizing substances, and their value as manures was more highly appreciated before the general adoption of the water closet and sewage systems. Even to-day the Chinese and...

Rape Cake And Rape Dust

Rape cake is largely used by some agriculturists not only as a manure but also as a wireworm catcher. Rape cake contains a certain amount of oil, but of late years this has been almost entirely extrac...

Malt Dust of Kiln Dust

This is obtained from malt houses and consists of the dried rootlets and shoots that have been screened from the kilned malt. Malt dust is a very useful organic manure, and may be regarded as a comple...

Wool And Shoddy

Pieces of woollen cloth and shredded portions called shoddy are valuable organic manures, being chiefly valued for their nitrogen. This varies from 2 to 13 per cent, according to the purity of the woo...

4. Nitrogenous Manures

Nitrogenous manures are chiefly valuable because they give a luxuriance and brilliancy of colour to the foliage of plants, thus enabling them under healthy conditions to absorb sufficient supplies of ...

4. Nitrogenous Manures. Continued

Nitrate Of Potash This is popularly known as saltpetre or nitre. Owing to its high price it is very little used by farmers and gardeners. It is not only rich in nitrogen, but also in potash, and ...

5. Phosphatic Manures

Phosphatic manures are derived from various sources, and are valuable because they induce the earlier production of flowers and fruits. They are mainly useful for the supply of phosphoric acid, which ...

Bones

The use of bones as a manure dates from the earliest times, and has become more extensive than ever. Between 45,000 and 60,000 tons of bones in various forms have been imported annually in recent year...

Superphosphate

This is one of the most popular phosphatic manures. It is obtained by treating substances containing tricalcium phosphate with sulphuric acid. At first superphosphate was made from bone ash and bone ...

Basic Slag

This is a by-product in the manufacture of Bessemer steel, and is also known as basic cinder and Thomas's phosphate. It is a fine dark-grey powder, 80 per cent of the particles of which should pas...

Wood Ashes, &C

Besides bones, superphosphate, and basic slag, other manures are also valuable for the amount of phosphates they contain. Wood ashes, i.e. the burnt refuse from weeds and plants of all sorts, contain ...

Limphos

This name has been given to a new fertilizer, said to contain 40 per cent of phosphates and 35 per cent of lime. It is probably a commercial name for a form of superphosphate, and is no doubt similar ...

6. Potash Manures

It must be a very poor soil indeed which does not contain large supplies of potash. This is locked up with other elements, but fair quantities may be liberated annually by cultivation and the applicat...

Kainit

This is one of the most popular potash manures at present in use. It is a crude natural salt obtained from Germany, and varies in colour from creamy white to pale pink. Pure samples contain potassium ...

Muriate Of Potash

This is another name for a more or less impure chloride of potassium. It is manufactured from carnallite, which is found in enormous quantities in the German potash deposits. It contains from 70 to 98...

Sulphate Of Potash

This is a whitish crystalline salt manufactured from natural deposits in the German potash mines. As a manure, the best samples contain 98 per cent of sulphate of potash, equal to over 52 per cent of ...

7. Calcareous Manures

These are of a most important nature, and consist of lime in some form, such as quicklime, slaked lime, chalk, marl, gas lime, and lime shells. Lime is not only an essential plant food (see p. 108), b...

Gypsum (Calcium Sulphate)

This is well known as the source of plaster of Paris. As a manure it is rarely used by itself, but it is largely applied in the form of superphosphate. It is thought that the presence of gypsum in the...

8. Miscellaneous Manures

There are few substances beyond those already mentioned used as manures, simply because there is very little to be obtained from them, or because the foods they yield are generally present in superabu...

9. Valuation Of Manures

Chemical or artificial manures are valued chiefly by horticulturists and agriculturists for the amounts of nitrogen, potash, or phosphates they contain. The horticultural value, however, does not alwa...

9. Valuation Of Manures. Continued

Table Showing The Approximate Quantity Of Nitrates, Phosphates, Potash, And Lime Contained In 1 Ton Of Manure Name of Manure. Nitrogen in 1 Ton. Phosphates in l Ton. Potash in 1 ...

10. Mixing Manures

The grower who wishes to save money by purchasing only the manures he requires should also make himself acquainted with the different chemical effects of one manure upon another; otherwise it may happ...

Section VI. Insect Pests

Within the past fifteen or twenty years commercial gardeners have taken a much keener interest in the various diseases and pests that prey upon their crops than their predecessors did. During that per...

Greenhouse Pests

The insect pests that invade greenhouses are perhaps as difficult to eradicate as any. There are so many chinks and crevices in walls and floors for them to breed in, and they are so difficult to reac...

Fumigating

Besides keeping the walls and woodwork of glasshouses clean with limewash, paint, etc, it is more or less essential at times to fill the atmosphere with fumes that are deadly to pests that may be actu...

Vaporizing

Nicotine in some concentrated form has always formed the staple fumigating material. It is now to be had concentrated in cake or liquid form, and, although apparently expensive, is really very effecti...

Cyaniding

Of recent years other methods of vaporizing have been introduced, the best known perhaps being that known as the cyanide process, in which hydrocyanic acid gas is diffused to kill mealy-bug, scale ins...

Outdoor Pests

These are far more numerous than those afflicting plants under glass. There is scarcely a fruit or vegetable, flower, tree, or shrub that is not subject to attack from one or more pests. Unfortunately...

Seeking The Cause

While the life-history and habits of the various insects that prey upon plants may possess a charm for the entomologist, the man who has to grow plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables for a living is...

Life-History And Habits Of Garden Pests

Farmers, gardeners, and fruit-growers are indebted to the late Miss Ormerod and to the late John Curtis, and more recently to Professor F. V. Theobald, of Wye College, and Professor Walter Collinge, f...

Methods Of Prevention

But how are these eggs and chrysalides to be destroyed? Entomologists tell us that the eggs of many insect pests are protected by a covering impervious to most, if not all, of the insecticides on the ...

Chrysalides

In most cases these are to be found at rest in the soil. The chrysalis, or pupa as it is also called, is the stage of development following that of the larva, maggot, or caterpillar, and preceding tha...

Chrysalides. Part 2

Table Of Insect Pests The following tabulated statement of the various insect pests may be of use to the cultivator. Special stress is laid upon the Period of Rest (chrysalis stage) column. That is w...

Chrysalides. Part 3

Insect Pests Of Fruits, Flowers, And Vegetables (Cont.) Name of Pest, Resting Period (Pupa Stage). Destructive Period (Caterpillar and Perfect Insect Stage). Plants Attacked and ...

Chrysalides. Part 4

Insect Pests Of Fruits, Flowers, And Vegetables (Cont.) Name of Pest. Besting Period (Pupa Stage). Destructive Period (Caterpillar and Perfect Insect Stage). Plants Attacked and ...

Chrysalides. Part 5

Insect Pests Of Fruits, Flowers, And Vegetables (Cont.) Name of Pest. Resting Period (Pupa Stage). Destructive Period (Caterpillar and Perfect Insect Stage). Plants Attacked and ...

Chrysalides. Part 6

Insect Pests Of Fruits, Flowers, And Vegetables (Cont.) Name of Pest. Resting Period (Pupa Stage). Destructive Period (Caterpillar and Perfect Insect Stage). Plants Attacked and ...

Chrysalides. Part 7

Insect Pests Of Fruits, Flowers, And Vegetables (Cont.) Name of Pest. Resting Period (Pupa Stage). Destructive Period (Caterpillar and Perfect Insect Stage). Plants Attacked and ...

Section VII. Garden Friends

Although the gardener may look upon the great majority of insects as enemies, he must not conclude that there are no friends of his in the insect world. There are several, and it may be well to put th...

Ladybirds

There are over twenty species of these known in Britain, but two especially are very common in gardens, viz. Coccinella (or Adalia) bipunctata and C. septempunctata. The first-named (fig. 154, 7), is ...

The Devil's Coach Horse

This is also known as the Fetid Rove Beetle (Ocypus olens). It has a long, narrow, deep-black body, and preys upon insects with great energy, and will soon tear an earwig to pieces. The larvae also fe...

Frog's, Toads, Lizards

These much - maligned animals must be regarded amongst the best friends of the cultivator. The Frog (Rana temporaria) feeds upon insects and small slugs, and will also devour beetles and fairly large ...

Hawkflies

These two-winged insects of the genus Scaeva are very numerous from July to September, and have received their name from the fact that they hover over flowers like a hawk; but they vary the hovering b...

Ichneumon Flies

These are found all over the kingdom, and are chiefly engaged in destroying destructive caterpillars of various kinds. Some deposit their eggs in the caterpillars or the pupae. The Ichneumon maggots f...

Lacewing- Flies

These flies belong to the genus Chry-sopa, and, as may be seen from fig. 161 (1), derive their name from the delicate veining of their wings. The eyes are golden green, very large and conspicuous, wit...

Ear-Shelled Slug

Although most slugs are injurious to vegetation, there is one genus which provides flesh-eating slugs that will feed upon other slugs and even worms. The British Ear-shelled Slug (Testacella halotidea...

Spiders

The true spiders, being perfectly harmless to plants, and living upon various kinds of insects, should never be destroyed by gardeners, although their webs and nests often present a very untidy appear...

The Weasel

Amongst animals the weasel must be regarded as a friend of the cultivator, as it destroys rats, mice, voles, rabbits; but it also destroys poultry, and its assistance is generally regarded as a doubtf...

Centipedes

Although belonging to the same group as the Millipedes or Julus worms the Centipedes (Geophilus subterraneus) are not harmful to crops. On the contrary they are beneficial, inasmuch as they feed on in...

Section VIII. Fungoid Diseases

Notwithstanding the enormous amount of mischief done by insect pests to the various crops grown in the open air and under glass, that caused by fungoid diseases is if anything more considerable, and n...

Section VIII. Fungoid Diseases. Continued

Fungoid Diseases Of Fruit Trees Common and Scientific Name of Disease. Parts Attacked and Outward Appearance. Treatment, etc. Apple Black Rot. See Quince Black Rot. ...

Section IX. Fungicides And Insecticides

Owing to the attention that has been given to the various fungoid diseases of fruits, flowers, and vegetables of late years, a large industry has developed amongst chemists to supply remedies for chec...

1. Ammoniacal Copper Fungicide Or Cupram

Recipe: Copper sulphate (98 per cent) ... ... ... 1 1/2 oz. Carbonate of soda (98 per cent) ......... 1 3/4 Ammonia solution (strongest) ......... 12 fluid oz. Water .................. 12 ...

2. Arsenate Of Lead (Sugar Of Lead)

Formula (Strawson): Acetate of lead (98 per cent) ... ... ... 2 3/4 oz. Arsenate of soda (98 per cent) ...... ... 1 Water to make ... ... ... ... ... 10 gal. Place materials in water and s...

3. Bordeaux Mixture

Formula: Copper sulphate (98 per cent) ......... 2 1b. Lime (freshly burnt) ............ 1 Water ... ... ... ...... ... 10 gal. Dissolve copper sulphate in 5 gal. water in wooden vessel. W...

4. Carbon Bisulphide

This is a volatile and inflammable clear liquid, which gives off an insect-killing vapour at a low temperature. The vapour being heavier than air, it is advisable to apply the liquid at top of holes w...

5. Caustic Wash Or Winter Wash

There are several formulae for making caustic winter washes to be applied to trees in a dormant condition. These caustic washes cleanse the bark of fruit trees and bushes from such parasitic plant gro...

III. Self-Boiling Lime-Sulphur-Soda Wash

Formula: Lime ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 lb. Sulphur (flowers of) ... ... ... ... 3 Caustic soda ... ... ... ... ... 1 Soft soap ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 . Water ... ... ... ........

IV. For Apple Sucker And Plum Aphis

Formula: Lime ... ... ...... ... ...1-1 1/2 cwt. Waterglass ... ... ... ... ... 5 lb. Salt ... ... ... ... ... ... 30-40 lb. Water ..................100 gal. Slake quicklime slowly, and then mix ...

6. Copper Sulphate (Bluestone, Blue Vitriol, Blue Copperas)

The purest 98-per-cent copper sulphate should be used, as cheaper brands contain impurities, chiefly iron sulphate, which may injure the foliage. One pound to 10 gal. water may be used as a winter was...

7. Copper Sulphate And Washing Soda (Burgundy Mixture)

Formula: Copper sulphate (98 per cent) ... ... ... 2 lb. Washing soda (pure) ... ...... .. 2 1/2 lb. Water ...... .......... 10 gal. Dissolve copper sulphate in 9 gal. of water in a wooden vessel,...

8. Eau Celeste

This is made by dissolving 2 lb. copper sulphate in 6 to 8 gal. of water in an earthen or wooden vessel, and then adding 1 qt. of ammonia and mixing with 50 to 60 gal. water. Modified Eau Celeste i...

9. Hellebore Powder

This is prepared from the roots of Veratrum album and V. viride, and is a popular remedy against attacks of leaf-eating insects and caterpillars. The powder is a poisonous alkaloid, but loses its prop...

10. Hydrocyanic Acid Gas

This has already been referred to as a vaporizer and fumigant at p. 169. ...

11. Iron Sulphate (Green Vitriol, Ferrous Sulphate)

Formula: Iron sulphate ...............40 lb. Sulphuric acid ............ ... 2 Warm water ...............10 gal. Dissolve crystals of iron sulphate in the water in a wooden vessel, and add...

12. Paraffin Emulsion (Petroleum, Kerosene, &C)

Paraffin is used in a variety of ways, and is effective in keeping off attacks of leaf-miners, like the Parsnip and Celery Fly, and others, if applied before attack. It is also useful for aphides, cat...

13. Paraffin Jelly

This is made by boiling 5 gal. of paraffin with 8 lb. soft soap, and adding 1 pt. of cold water, constantly stirring. When cool this becomes a jelly, and may be used at the rate of 10 lb. to 40 gal. o...

14. Paris Green (Emerald Green, French Green, Mitis Green)

This may be had in a powdered or paste (Blundell's) form, the latter being the better. One ounce to 10 to 25 gal. water is used as an insecticide to prevent attacks of Codlin Moth, in spring, and othe...

15. Pearl Ash (Potassium Carbonate)

This is made by boiling the ashes of plants with water and evaporating to dryness. It is deliquescent and very soluble in water. The strength varies from 40 to 85 per cent. It is used as an insecticid...

16. Pyrethrum (Dalmatian Insect Powder, Persian Insect Powder)

This powder is obtained by grinding the dried flowerheads of Chrysanthemum coccineum and G. cineraricefolium. The powder obtained from unopened flowerheads is considered better, although more expensiv...

17. Quassia Chips

These are obtained from Picroena excelsa. They should be boiled for two or three hours to extract the bitter principle. An excellent all-round insecticide is made from 1 lb. quassia chips, 1 lb. soft ...

18. Quicklime Applied In The Form Of A Powder

Quicklime Applied In The Form Of A Powder is a good remedy against slugs and snails, and is also a useful soil constituent. In a slaked form lime is also useful, but two or three applications in succe...

19. Sodium Cyanide

This is used in connection with hydrocyanic acid gas for vaporizing greenhouses, as stated above, p. 169. ...

20. Soft Soap (Also Known As Whale-Oil Soap, Train-Oil Soap, Fish-Oil Soap, And Potash Soap)

This is one of the cheapest, simplest, and at the same time most effective insecticides used for horticultural purposes. Good samples should be free from resin and contain not less than 8 per cent of ...

21. Sulphide Of Potassium Or Liver Of Sulphur

This has become popular as a fungicide. The sulphide is best kept in well-stoppered bottles, as it decomposes quickly when exposed to the air. For indoor plants 1 oz. to 5 gal. water is sufficient, bu...

22. Tobacco

This has always supplied an excellent insecticide to gardeners in the form of washes, fumigants, and vaporizers, the active principle of which is nicotine. It may be used in the form of powder, like H...

23. Winter Washes Of Lime And Sulphur

The formulae for these have been given under Caustic Wash on p. 213. ...

24. Woburn Wash

This is made as follows: - Sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) or sulphate of iron (copperas) 1 1/2 lb. Quicklime ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6 oz. Paraffin ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 pints. ...

Section X. Glasshouse Building

These notes are intended for the man who, starting in a small way, finds it necessary to study the expenditure of every penny. Our large horticultural builders can probably put up a large range of hou...

Section X. Glasshouse Building. Part 2

Fig. 165. - Corner Post fixed with Stays. Fig. 166. - Plumb-board. This point must now be considered. A greenhouse should have a fall of 6 in. in the 100 ft. This will allow the gutters and pi...

Section X. Glasshouse Building. Part 3

MODERN GLASSHOUSES. These houses are each 200 ft. long x 30 ft. wide and were erected at Waltham Cross and Cheshunt by W. Duncan Tucker & Sons. If the box is treated as one part, no mistake ca...

Section X. Glasshouse Building. Part 4

The end rafters are cut in the same trough as the sash bars, and care must be taken to cut them in pairs, as they only have a glass rabbet on one top edge for the roof, and one bottom edge for the end...

Section X. Glasshouse Building. Part 5

INTERIOR VIEW OF MODERN GREENHOUSE. 120 ft. long, 40 ft. wide, with hot-water pipe overhead. Erected by Messrs. W. Duncan Tucker & Sons. A tank for keeping the pipes supplied with water must be p...

Section X. Glasshouse Building. Part 6

Glass can be got in all sizes, and a very usual size is 20 in. by 16 in., and 24 in. by 18 in., the panes being put in lengthways; more bars are required this way, but the house is stronger. The glass...

Greenhouses On Rails

About twenty years ago the idea of having movable greenhouses occurred to the Horticultural Travelling Structures Company, and many of their buildings are now to be seen in actual use by market grower...

Section XI. Heating Apparatus

Market growers and nurserymen who have to erect large greenhouses for their crops do so strictly on business principles. The ornamental structures seen in private gardens and public establishments do ...

Boilers

Of these there are many varieties on the market - all sorts, shapes, and sizes. Some of the older types, like the wedge, coil, and conical, have been driven out altogether, even from private est...

Saddle Boiler

The saddle boiler is still very popular amongst all classes of growers, especially amongst the smaller men who cannot at first, perhaps, afford to instal the dearer kinds. The plain saddle boil...

Improved Cornish Or Trentham Boiler

In the improved Cornish or Trentham boiler, shown at fig. 176, we have a circular or cylindrical type, being a modification of the Cornish steam boiler. The boiler consists of wrought-iron cylinders w...

Sectional Boilers

Of late years these have attracted some attention among market growers, and many are now using them. The chief advantages appear to be that a boiler can be added to if necessary if more work is requir...

Setting Boilers

Generally speaking it will not pay a nurseryman or market grower either to set his own boilers or pipes or to build his own greenhouses. That is work best done by horticultural builders who make a spe...

Principles Of Hot-Water Circulation

Every grower should know why the water from the boiler rises and flows upwards through the flow pipes and comes back again to the boiler by the return pipes. It may be possible to explain this by mean...

Quantity Of Piping Required

The following table, taken from Hood's work on hot-water heating, may be given as showing the length of 4-in. piping required to heat 1000 cub. ft. of air per minute from 45 to 90 F., the te...

Fuel

This is one of the greatest expenses to the commercial grower with extensive ranges of glass, and prices of coal and coke have increased enormously during the past twenty years, while the price of pro...

Key To The Model Of A Potato Plant. Section I

General View Number references as for Section V below. Section II. Epidermis Of The Plant 1. Flower. 2. Fruit. 3. Diseased Leaf. 4. Healthy Leaf. (a) Midrib. (b) Vein. 5. Stem. 6. Healthy Tub...