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STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 23 



Third in importance. So little known and esteemed thirty 

 years ago, some would say, is the tomato; but we would pass it and 

 point to the humble lettuce; its cultivation so easy, its freedom from 

 insect enemies and disease, manageable in the hands of the un- 

 skilled, makes it a real garden treasure. Every lover of a home gar- 

 den, except the northern regions, can have it in April, yet how com- 

 paratively few have it until May. In the early spring it loves to 

 grow in a warm, sunny, sheltered spot; a tiny bed, two and one-half 

 feet wide by seven feet long, may be sown the first day of February 

 or the first days in March. Set upon edge, around your lettuce bed, 

 pieces of fence plank, covering it with boards in stormy, bad weather, 

 or better still with some old window sash. If the bed is rich and 

 well prepared, your tiny lettuce bed will soon well repay you for the 

 trouble and care with a bountiful supply of salad. Very many gar- 

 dens near our large cities make a specialty of raising this wholesome 

 vegetable, and find ready sale for it almost the entire year. Large 

 greenhouses are devoted to its cultivation in the winter months, and 

 very many families make, from a very small spot of ground, a very 

 comfortable income. The Early Curled Selesia is one of the very 

 best for early sowing. Lettuce grown to head, as does cabbage, re- 

 quires to be sown the last of September; they are then planted into 

 cold frames, about two inches apart, and kept in a semi-dormant 

 state until April. Lettuce when thus grown will stand fifteen to 

 twenty degrees of cold. In early spring plants of lettuce thus kept 

 can be planted about one foot apart, and under favorable conditions 

 will well repay every lover of a home garden to provide his family 

 with a supply of lettuce. To love and enjoy home is to constantly 

 cultivate a love and taste for the good things in the vegetable world 

 the Creator has placed around us. To watch their growth and devel- 

 opment, and to interest ourselves and families in all that pertains 

 to the occupation of a home garden, is worthy of our serious con- 

 sideration. 



H. K. Yickroy — I think Mr. Webster recommends planting 

 asparagus too close, I would plant four feet apart as the cultivation 

 can be more readily done. Do you cut above or below ground ? 



J. Webster — There is a demand for both the green and the 

 blanched, I am not sure which is best. I think asparagus is to be- 

 come one of the most popular vegetables. Like all vegetable life it 

 must have a season of rest. After the cutting season is over the tops 

 should not be disturbed. 



The President announced the following committees; 



Anardincf Committees — Class I and III. — J. Webster, J. V. 

 Cotta and Len. Small. 



