14 1 2 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



to produce crisp, choice lettuce, the plant must have continuous rapid 

 or forced growth; this means plenty of water and cultivation. 



In harvesting, cut the plant with a knife just below the place where 

 the first leaves branch or start from the stem. Wash the dirt off the 

 head by placing in a tub of water — stem end first, never the other way. 

 Place in baskets or boxes, stem up. Lettuce is a good crop to use for 

 companion or succession cropping. Extra choice, crisp lettuce is a deli- 

 cacy. 



The best varieties of lettuce for use in hotbeds are Hittinger's Arlington 

 Forcing, Big Boston, Deacon, Grand Rapids, and Romaine, or Cos 

 White Paris; and for outside use, the former varieties, except the first, 

 in addition to Mignonette, Brown Dutch, and Salamander. 



Muskmelons 



A sandy loam with plenty of well-rotted barnyard manure, especially 

 a shovelful placed in each hill, will give good results in melons. The 

 melons may be started in berry-boxes or paper boxes in the hotbed or 

 the cold-frame, and later transplanted to the field. The rows should 

 be 6 to 8 feet apart and the hills should be 6 feet apart in the row. If 

 there are six or eight or more seeds planted at first, they may be thinned 

 later to four of the best plants. Muskmelons may be grown in drills 

 as are cucumbers, and their cultivation should be maintained until it 

 interferes with the proper growth of the vines. 



Varieties of muskmelons recommended are Netted Gem, Osage, Nutmeg, 

 Hackensack, Miller Cream. 



Onions 



Plenty of humus well mixed into a rich sandy loam is a good soil for 

 the production of onions. The crop has been grown successfully on the 

 muck lands of New York State. The seeds are planted in rows, or drills, 

 12 to 30 inches apart, the seed not deeper than \ to f inch. On sandy 

 land the onions are later thinned to four or five plants for each foot of 

 row. On muck soil, do not thin. For very large or very early onions it 

 is an advantage to plant the seed in hotbeds, transplanting to the rows 

 in the field when the onion seedlings are 6 to 8 inches high, being sure 

 to have a large number of roots attached to each seedling. Onions re- 

 quire frequent shallow cultivation, with persistent attention to clean 

 culture as to weeds. Such culture is oftentimes obtained only by hand- 

 weeding. 



In early fall the tops of the onions should droop over and die. At 

 that time pull the onions, allow them to cure for a short period by lying 

 on the ground, then cut off the dead tops and store the bulbs in crates 

 in a well-ventilated place. 



