Miss Lois Stringer (front) and Miss
Jeannette - Lowe inspect lettuce
specimens.. Miss Stringer’s notebook
is essential to her work for keeping
accurate records. Both women work
with the Philadelphia flower show
display for W. Atlee Burpee Co. *
TOUR FEATURES:
■ ESCORTED FROM LANCASTER
- TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTS BY KLIM
MEN NO TRAVEL SERVICE I -
£> isf.
-V' ; >
' s sT' *5 •
V
1
Rhine River - Freight Barge & The Lorelei, Germany
ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES
FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION CONTACT:
102 East Main Street Ephrata, PA 17522
Telephone: 733-4131
Burpee prepares
(Continued from Page 50]
exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower and Garden Show. A
visit to the greenhouses proved months of planning and
care have produced a Summer garden in March.
With Jeannette Lowe, horticulturist, and Lois
Stringer, vegetable trial manager and All American
Vegetable judge, as guides, the fine points of handling
an extensive exhibit of live plants became quickly
” apparent. Anyomr who' _to exhibit
greeirbeails, tomatoes,'asters, "or*potted plants at a
community fair can identify with some of the problems
of displaying produce and plants at their peak of
perfection on a given date. Timing is the key factor.
Produce and flower must appear at the right time, and
this requires planning months ahead.
This Winter has been a little harder to work with but
not because of the cold, according to Miss Lowe.
Although it was unusually cold, it was also unusually
bright. Clear, sunny days, week after week, forced the
flowers faster than normal. “There have been very few
overcast days this Winter,” she remarked about
dreary days.
There are many variables in producing plants and
flowers for a specific stage at a given date, but ex
tensive, accurate records kept over the years help
control some factors. Lois Stringer, vegetable trial
manager, carried a rule and notebook as she went
through the greenhouses measuring and counting and
recording the Inventory for the exhibition the second
week of March. Since the display will include potted
and cut specimens, a detailed accounting of the
number of plants to be used each day to maintain a
quality exhibit are accurately tabulated.
Getting the plants to the display site entails quite a
lot more than the stuffing of newspaper around pots in
a cardboard box seen at local fairs.
Large flats are designed to hold many plants.
Tomatoes are grown in baskets, trained on six-foot
high poles, grown in hanging wire cages, or grown in
cylindrical shaped wire frames. These are only a few
well-planned moving techniques.
To simulate a permanent garden plot at the show,
“rows” of vegetables such as bib lettuce and green
bean plants are grown in plastic-lined wooden boxes
which can be separated into sections by snipping the
plastic, lifting out a section and placing end to end to
form the row.
In order to have the produce on the plant during the
exhibition, special transporting arrangements are
necessary. Cloth sacks are gently tied around the red
ripe tomatoes hanging on the vines. “They look like
they have diapers on them,” Miss Lowe graphically
explained.
EH
FIRM TOUR
THE NETHERLANDS - GERMANY -
SWITZERLAND
MAY 23-JUNE 6, 1977
- FARM VISITS & PERSONAL CONTACTS
- TOURS & CRUISES
Clip and mail to Menno Travel Sendee
r
Please send me a detailed brochure describing the
EUROPEAN FARM TOUR
| ADDRESS
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 5,1977—5
These tomatoes are stacked, and are six feet tall
with beautiful clusters of fruit They are specimens
grown at the Fordhook Farms, Doylestown.
Besides the garden plot and the cut flower displays,
Burpee’s will be showing some of the processes of
developing hybrids through selective plant breeding. A
group of fumy-looking marigolds will show the female
parent which does not have the ruffled petals
characteristic of the marigold flowerette. Several
stages will be represented.
Although hybrid varieties may take 20 years to
develop, they are worth it according to Burpee in
formation because they benefit the grower through
increased yield, higher quality vegetables and flowers,
[Continued on Page 52]
JOIN
operating May 23-June 6,1977
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