102 LETTUCE. 
unusually cloudy and “slow’’ in winter: Landreth Forc- 
ing lettuce sown in flats February 24; transplanted to 
beds, March 17; first heads marketed, under normal con- 
ditions, May 10; first heads marketed trom a compartment 
receiving electric light at night (a total of 84 hours), April 
30, or 44 days from seed. Simpson Curled was sown 
October 3; November 7, transplanted to bed. It was 
desired to hold the crop back, so that the house was 
kept very cold; and the variety is not well adapted to 
quick forcing, so that it was January 30 before the entire 
crop was fit for market, making 119 days from seed. 
Grand Rapids lettuce sown December 28; transplanted 
to bed, January 16; began marketing March 21. This 
makes 72 days from seed, in the dark months; and at 
least a week could have been gained if we had not been 
obliged to delay transplanting whilst waiting for a crop 
of chrysanthemums to come off the bed. 
A grower’s remarks.—W. W. Rawson, a prominent 
grower of heading lettuce near Boston, is reported* in 
the following sentences respecting some of the essential 
points in the management of the crop: ‘‘ With lettuce 
planted on the 20th of August, the heads are ready for 
market on the 20th of October. Every five days I plant 
3 ounces of lettuce seed, and this supplies my green- 
houses with plants during the winter, one house being 
set out every week. I transplant twice, first at the fourth 
week, setting them 4 inches apart; second at the sixth 
week when they are put 8 inches apart. They head dur- 
ing the seventh and eighth weeks. During December, 
January, February and March there is a continuous crop. 
The last crop of lettuces from the greenhouse is in the 
middle of April. After that I raise them in sashes and 
in the open air. The house should be ventilated from 
the ridge; if this is not enough, then from one side also. 
The temperature should be warmest when the crop is 
*American Gardening, xvii. 197 (March 28, 1896). 
