Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1902 — FARM AND CARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND CARDEN

A SIMPLE FORCING HOUSE.

Which a Thrifty Farmer May Grow Winter Vegetables. The growing of vegetables under glass in winter has become a gfeat industry in the vicinity of all our 'northern cities, and the output of these houses finds a ready sale at remunera-

GROUND PLAN AND END VIEW. tive prices. As a rule, this department 7 of agriculture has been left to the professional trucker, the farmer contenting himself with working his ground during the spring and summer and allowing it to lie Idle during the long ■Mfyiter months, when fresh vegetables bring the best prices. One reason for this neglected opportunity is undoubtedly the expensiveness of the strictly up to date, forcing house. But for a large class of semihardy vegetables, which find a ready market at fair prices, a simple and comparatively inexpensive house will answer I every purpose and will grow successfully lettuce, radishes, spinach, parsley, mint, violets and pansies, for all • of which there is a large and growing , winter demand in all our cities and i larger towns. The house planned and built by the writer (W. H. Burbank in Farm and Fireside) is about the simplest that can be devised, being nothing more than a cold frame so modified as to be easy | of access in all weather and provided I with a small entrance house. The house proper is 90 feet long and about 12 feet wide, with side walls 8 I inches high. The entrance house is J’ 12 feet by 8 feet, with side walls 3 j feet high above the ground level. It I is that these dimensions would rglve no head room. So the entire floor I of the entrance house is excavated to I a depth of three feet, and a walk two I feet wide and three feet deep is dug I the whole length of the glass house. I-This leaves surface beds five feet wide lon each side of the walk. The top soil I may be thrown on these beds and the I subsoil used for banking up the sides lof the house. The digging should be I done before the carpentry work is I begun. I The ridgepole of the forcing house I is made of 2 by 3 inch stuff, placed six Ifeet above the middle of the sunken (path and held in place by rafters of I the same stuff. The rafters on the I north side, as the house runs east and I west, are spaced three feet apart from IJtater to center. On the south side, I where the sashes are placed, they may ■be the width of the frames apart. I Even in so simple a house as this ■ any of the vegetables or violets and ■pansies can be successfully grown in ■ winter with little or no artificial heat. Ilf no heat is used, shutters must be ■made to protect the sashes during cold ■Sights. Two or three small oil heaters l'«vfil obviate the need of using shutiters. ■ In the late spring the forcing house Ils stripped and the beds cultivated, ■this open air cultivation making it ■possible to use the soil in the beds ■for two seasons. I The illustrations will make the description plain. The first figure shows, ■the ground plan of the entrance house ■"nd a section of the forcing house. ■A A are the beds, B the sunken path ■and C the entrance house floor, excaIvated to a level with B. There is a ■door at E and another at F. The second figure is an end view. D E F is ■the roof of forcing house and G H I ■the entrance of forcing house, 2 feet K*. inches above it The side eleva-

lion is shown in the third figure. A Is the entrance house, B a section of I'orclng house, C C ground level and p D level of sunken path and entrance liouse floor. I In such a house as this work should |>e begun the middle of September, beI'ore the sashes are put on, by sowing ladlsh or lettuce seed or putting violet |.r pansy roots in the beds. Three or lour crops of radishes may be grown Imd then the beds planted with cucum|>ers or tomatoes for an extra crop. I How to Handle a Queen Bee. ■ Great care should be used in hanllling queens not to injure their abdoRnen or legs. When it is desired to latch a queen pick her up by the wings |>r grasp her gently by the thorax with ■he thumb and forefinger; there need ■>e no fear of her stinging, for, while liature has provided her with a sting, ■he seldom, if ever, uses it except upon queen. Do not attempt to catch |r handle queens when at all nervous |>r excited, as you will be very apt to ■oaim or injure them in some way, advises a writer in American Gardening.

FIG.1.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 3. SIDE ELEVATION.