

CHAPTER XXXII. 

 LETTUCE. 



In all parts of the country, North and South, in the open ground and 

 under glass, there is no crop that engages the attention of the skilled gardener 

 more than the lettuce crop. This, of course, refers to the winter culture of 

 the crop in frames in the South and in heated houses in the North. The 

 outdoor crop, while an important one, is of far less profit and importance 

 than that grown under protection. In Florida the crop is grown, all through 

 the cooler part of the year, outside, and as we advance up the coast we find 

 lettuce engaging the attention of the winter gardener in frames, protected 

 either by awnings of cotton cloth rolled up and down on rafters, or in the reg- 

 ular cold frames with glass sashes. In the North acre after acre of steam and 

 hot water heated houses is devoted to the winter production of the lettuce 

 crop. And with all this production, there has never been a time when good 

 head lettuce has failed to bring a good price during the cold months from 

 November to April. 



The gardeners along the South Atlantic seaboard use cotton cloth almost 

 exclusively for the production of winter and early spring lettuce. We have 

 long tried to show them that this is a mistake, but the first cost of the glass 

 is so heavy that they hesitate to undertake a large area in glass. The cloth 

 covered frames cost $500 per acre, and the cloth has to be renewed every sec- 

 ond year. If a heavy snow comes, the gardener with cloth covered frames is 

 in a bad way, for the snow will slide on his bagging cloth and press down on 

 the plants, and hence must be removed. As cold always follows a snowfall, 

 he then has not sufficient protection from the cloth and his plants get dam- 

 aged. With the glass sashes a snowfall is a protection against the cold that 

 follows, as it can be left on the frames. Experienced growers have admitted 

 to me that they could grow a third more and better lettuce in glass frames, 

 but they hesitate to make the expenditure of $3,000 per acre for the glass 

 when the crop is worth that much per acre annually under cloth, and would 



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