4 The Bulletin. 



product goes forward. Fifteen miles in latitude counts for a day's 

 difference in earliness, or a hundred miles south means about one 

 week in earliness for northern markets. 



LETTUCE CENTERS. 



The area devoted to lettuce culture in North Carolina is not large, 

 as the crop is grown by intensive methods of culture which lend 

 themselves to restricted rather than to extensive operations. Wil- 

 mington, New Bern and Eayetteville are at present the centers of 

 the industry. Each of these centers represents a special phase of the 

 industry, Wilmington, being far south and having a very mild cli- 

 mate, is the center of a region where much lettuce is grown in covered . 

 frames and without heat, while still more is grown in open fields 

 with no protection whatever. New Bern is noted for large lettuce 

 outfits, where lettuce is forced by steam heating and irrigation. The 

 Fayetteville lettuce industry is unique, being largely confined to 

 small lots and parcels of land in and immediately surrounding the 

 town. From these three centers the industry is extending to many 

 other localities. The great, demand for North Carolina lettuce will 

 undoubtedly increase the present industry and cause lettuce-growing 

 to be taken up more generally throughout the whole trucking region 

 of eastern North Carolina. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS DURING THE SEASON. 



From the sowing of the seed for the first or fall crop until the 

 removal of the last of the spring crop is a period of about eight and 

 a half months, or from the middle of August to the first of May. 

 During this period the weather conditions in the eastern counties of 

 the State are quite mild. The temperature rarely drops below 15° 

 F., while the rainfall, though somewhat irregular, averages 3.7 inches 

 per month. The rainfall at New Bern during these months is con- 

 siderably in excess of that at Wilmington, while the rainfall at Fay- 

 etteville is also slightly less than that at New Bern. 



In the matter of temperature we are not concerned particularly 

 with averages, but with the lowest temperature registered during 

 the time the crop is growing. A careful compilation from the weather 

 reports, made by Assistant Horticulturist F. C. Eeimer, shows the 

 following conditions during the past five years : 



