HAPPY RAIN OR SHINE 127 



York, which (with Dreer's Wonderful, which is 

 well named) are the best varieties of lettuce for 

 summer growing, are apt to go to seed without 

 heading if their heading time comes too late in 

 summer. 



Maine is kinder to these frigid plants than 

 Massachusetts or states farther south; more 

 than once a market gardener from near Boston 

 who specializes in lettuce has envied me the 

 cold nights here and admired my achievements; 

 yet an occasional summer's prolonged heat and 

 drought are deadly to most of the salad plants, 

 even up here in the North. 



In Connecticut they provide summer shade 

 for weeds at any rate, for the weed par excel- 

 lence. If tobacco is thus coddled, why shouldn't 

 I try the same method with my greens? The 

 price of cheesecloth has doubled or trebled, like 

 everything else, but even thus it is vastly cheaper 

 than buying Trianons or Icebergs at half a 

 dollar a head. Old burlap sacks, supported on 

 shingles, are as good as cheesecloth. 



EFFECTIVE CROP INSURANCE 



In some parts of Europe, particularly the 

 Bavarian highlands, hailstorms are so frequent 

 and so destructive that most of the gardeners 

 and farmers take out a special hail insurance on 

 their crops. I do not know if one could get 

 a general insurance on garden crops against 

 drought, plant diseases, frost, and other calami- 



