New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 469 



fine soil and watered so as to compact the soil around the seed. 

 When the seedlings began to appear those germinating each day 

 were marked with small wooden pegs indicating the day on which 

 the germination occurred. The seed was sown October 27, 1896. It 

 germinated quite evenly on November 1 and 2, and only 

 plants which germinated on these dates were allowed to grow. 

 They were thinned November 2 and again November 4, so that 

 vigorous plants, uniform in size, with fully expanded cotyledons 

 stood about one inch apart in the row. From these seedlings the 

 final selection of plants for the test was made November 20. 



The plan was to set each plat with seedlings which had germi- 

 nated in that plat and at the same time use plants of uniform 

 size for transplanting in all plats. It was found that this could 

 not be done because in Plats 10 of Soil 5, 12 of Soil 6 and 13 of 

 Soil 4, which were located in the end of the house farthest from 

 the boiler, the growth was slower so that smaller plants had to be 

 used in setting those plats than were used in the rest of the house. 

 Notwithstanding this the original plan of setting each plat with 

 seedlings from that plat was followed. The height of each seed- 

 ling when it was transplanted was li inches for all plats except 10, 

 12 and 13. For Plat 10 plants If inches and for Plats 12 and 13 

 1^ inches in height were used. 



Some plants did not form marketable heads. These were cut 

 and weighed when the last of the marketable heads were cut. 

 The results as set forth in Table 4, page 476, show that there was 

 but a difference of one day at the most in the average time re- 

 quired for maturing the plants on the different soils. The percent- 

 age of marketable heads was the same for all soils, being 96 per 

 cent. The average weight of the mature plants was about alike on 

 Soils 4 and 5, but noticeably greater on Soil 6. The heads which 

 grew on Soil 6 were looser and the lettuce was more delicate in 

 texture and would not be expected to stand handling as well as 

 that which was grown on Soils 4 and 5. Soil 6, as has been stated, 

 contained no loam but was made of sand and manure, while Soils 

 4 and 5 contained different proportions of clay loam. 



