SOILS OF PENDEE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. 13 



burn the roots otherwise. If special forcing is desired, a top dressing of sodium 

 nitrate is sometimes given. The most successful growers never use cotton-seed 

 meal, as it is believed to be conducive to rot, which often seriously damages 

 the crop. 



About three months are required for lettuce to mature, which permits of 

 two crops being produced each year. The fall crop is set out from the last of 

 August to the middle of September, and is ready for shipment about the last 

 of November or the middle of December. The spring crop is set out in Decem- 

 ber and is ready for market the last of February or early in March. The 

 spring crop is usually of more importance and brings the best prices. The fall 

 crop is often seriously affected by dry weather, unless provision for irrigation 

 has been made. 



More than two or three crops can not be successfully grown on the same 

 land in succession, and it is thought better by some to grow only one. Many 

 short rotations or successions of crops might be suggested in connection with 

 this vegetable product. Spring lettuce may be followed by early snap beans 

 and later by collards. About January 15, or a little later, a crop of early 

 Irish potatoes may be planted on the same ground and dug by June 1, which 

 will leave three months for the growing of cowpeas before setting to fall lettuce. 

 Another rotation is spring lettuce, followed by cowpeas for hay, then by a 

 late crop of Irish potatoes, in the spring by sweet potatoes, and in the fall by 

 lettuce. Another excellent rotation is fall lettuce, followed by beets, these by 

 cucumbers, and these in turn by a crop of late Irish potatoes, which may be 

 dug in time to permit the ground to be planted in spring lettuce. The frames 

 in which spring lettuce has been grown the year before can be planted in fall 

 lettuce after gathering the crop of cucumbers, the late potatoes being omitted 

 in this case. While most of the older growers of the area believe in growing 

 three and even four crops of lettuce in succession, followed by one or two other 

 crops, arid then " turning the land out to. rest " for a year or so, yet rotations 

 such as are given above have proved a success in other trucking sections, and 

 it is believed that the growers of this area might well give them a test. Such 

 rotations will prove beneficial to the different crops and will doubtless diminish 

 the damage by rot in the lettuce. The diversity of crops will insure a more 

 certain income, and greater returns can be had from a smaller acreage. 



Asparagus also can be successfully grown on well-drained areas of 

 the Norfolk fine sandy loam, from crowns set to a depth of 6 to 8 

 inches during the winter season. The rows should be about 5 feet 

 apart and the plants spaced at least 2 feet. A thousand pounds 

 an acre of a mixture of 900 pounds of acid phosphate, 600 pounds of 

 cotton-seed meal, 400 pounds of muriate of potash, and 100 pounds of 

 nitrate of soda, has been used quite successfully with this crop. 



Irish potatoes offer attractive inducements on this quality of land. 

 Planted between the middle of January and the middle of February 

 the crop can be harvested under ordinary weather conditions by the 

 25th of May to the 1st of June. A fall crop should be grown for 

 local use and for seed. 



The production of sweet potatoes, it would seem, could be extended 

 upon a profitable basis by growing particular varieties for particu- 

 lar markets, paying careful attention to assorting and packing. (See 

 Fanners' Bulletin No. 324, U. S. Department of Agriculture.) 



[Cir. 20] 



