344 CROP <j ROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



cross bars to the frames, but simply set the sashes across. This is cheaper, 

 of course, but it involves two men always at hand on each side of the frames to 

 handle the sashes, hence we prefer to go to the extra expense of dovetailing 

 into each side, every 3 feet, a 2x4 inch piece. This is not nailed fast to the 

 sides, but simply dovetailed so that it can be knocked out of the way when 

 preparing the bed. On the middle of this piece we nail an inch strip to serve 

 as a parting strip between the sashes and so make a slide on which one man 

 easily slides the sashes up or down for ventilation. The sashes are the regu- 

 lar three by six foot size, and cost now, complete, about $1.50 each, made of 

 clear white pine or cypress. Our Southern yellow pine makes a very heavy 

 sash and one that does not hold paint well, and is more apt to warp than 

 those made of white pine or cypress. We never use a puttied sash on the 

 frames. They are simply grooved so that the glass slips in easily and rests 

 butted against the pane above. A tack at ihe bottom holds the whole row in 

 place and when a pane gets broken, all we have to do is to slip the row up 

 and run in another pane at the bottom. This makes the sash much lighter 

 than if it is puttied and the glass lapped. 



SOIL AND PLANTING 



Soil is a very important matter in the growing of frame lettuce, for the 

 character of the soil affects the crop more than in the case of many other 

 plants. Lettuce prefers a sandy soil, and as the frames in which winter let- 

 tuce is grown are fixed affairs we must, in order to make a rotation, change 

 the soil instead of the plants. We clean out the frames every fall and use 

 the contents as manure elsewhere. Beginning in early spring, we prepare 

 a compost for the frames the coming fall, for it must be turned and rotted and 

 fined during the whole summer. To make this compost we gather oak leaves, 

 grass sods and manure and pile them in layers. As our natural soil is stiff 

 clay we add to this compost during the summer, all the washed sand about the 

 place, and chop the heap down and turn and mix it several times during the 

 summer, so that by planting time it is a mellow, black mass of loam. After 

 the frames are filled with this prepared soil we apply to each sash (or eighteen 

 spuare feet) five-sixths of a pound of concentrated fertilizer containing 8 per 

 cent, phosphoric acid, 5 per cent, nitrogen and 3 per cent, potash ; this is about 

 the rate of a ton per acre. This application must be made at least a week 

 before planting and well mixed with the soil, and if there is no heavy rain in 

 the meantime the bed should be well soaked before any planting is done, so 

 that the fertilizer may get well assimilated with the soil and not injure the 

 roots of the plants. I have thus described our practice because the prepara- 



