Vegetable Growing for Market 115 



helps the plants to resist the fungus attacks that frequently do great 

 damage in the late winter. 



The seed must be distributed evenly, and covered to the depth of 

 J in. with sifted soot in which some sand and old mortar rubble are 

 good ingredients. After sifting, the soil should be lightly patted. As 

 soon as the seedlings show above ground the lights must be pulled off 

 in fine weather and pushed on when it rains. This operation of pulling 

 off and putting on needs doing several times a day in catchy weather. 

 The lights must be put on at night and blocked up for air except in 

 severe weather. 



If the young seedlings show a disposition to "draw", which they will 

 do if the glass is not regularly taken off in fine weather, or if there should 

 be a run of gloom and wet, a good plan is to sift some fine soil evenly 

 over them to "stank" them up. The constant attention to the Lettuce 

 in the lights must be kept up till March. If the weather gets very severe 

 they will need covering with mats at night, but they do not want coddling. 

 When, after all this, the finished article sells in June for 2d per score, 

 as it frequently does, the market gardener has an opportunity of graduat- 

 ing in the school of which the patriarch Job is said to have been the most 

 distinguished professor. 



Planting begins at the end of February or beginning of March, accord- 

 ing to the season. Sometimes a fungoid disease called the " drop " attacks 

 the young plants in the lights. It shows itself by a browning of the leg 

 just above ground. The disease spreads rapidly, and a day or two after 

 its appearance patches of the plants will be found flagging. If they are 

 examined, the brown ring will be found to have developed into a patch 

 of dead tissue, cutting off all supplies from the roots to the top. Sprink- 

 ling with flowers of sulphur checks the spread a little, but the remedy 

 most favoured is to hurry the plants out into the open fields. The sorts 

 grown are " Fulham White Cos" for the earliest (although this sort appears 

 to be less grown every year); "Paris Cos" mostly a dark-green variety, 

 at the early sowings, and a white variety after. For Cabbage varieties, 

 "Vauxhall .Defiance" and "Chavigny" are good sorts for autumn and 

 winter sowings under lights. For summer work, "White Marvel of 

 Cazard" and "Trocadero" may be tried, the latter for July sowings. 

 The " Malta " and " Webb's Wonderful ", two large-growing varieties, are 

 much favoured in the Midlands, but will not sell at all in London. 



Cabbage Lettuce during the summer are generally sown in drills 1 ft. 

 apart, and then singled to 12-in. spaces. 



The distances for planting are 12 in. by 9 in. for the Fulham Cos, and 

 15 in. by 1 ft. for the Paris Cos and the Cabbage Lettuces. 



Tying". If good strains of Cos Lettuce are bought, it will be found 

 that they will heart without the aid of tying, and some growers send 

 them to market untied; but it will be found to pay to put a bit of 

 "fillis" round them, as it preserves their shape and spares the breaking 

 away of the outside leaves. It will not be denied that careful attention 



