LECT. TIT PROFITABLE CULTURE 99 



heavier and wetter, as if this were done the best 

 would not be made of the position. 



Object. Then the main object for which the crops 

 are grown must be considered, whether for home use 

 mainly, or for sale chiefly; if for home use those 

 which are known to be the most serviceable at home 

 must be grown in the greatest quantity ; if for sale 

 the facilities for marketing must have consideration, 

 for no matter how good any kind of produce may be, 

 if it cannot be sold or used it is obviously grown at a 

 loss. 



Green Crops. It is well known that some of the 

 chief green crops of the garden, grown for sale, give 

 a good return to the cultivator, but only when they 

 are of the first quality and placed in the market 

 early ; if only moderate to inferior, also late in the 

 market, they will yield small or, it may be, no profit 

 to the grower. 



Take for instance cabbages : sow early hearting 

 sorts in July, grow them stiff and sturdy from the 

 first, plant them in rich soil, keep this stirred in the 

 spring, dress with nitrate of soda, thus pushing on 

 growth, so as to be first in the market with the crop, 

 and it will sell for at the least 50 an acre ; but be a 

 fortnight behind, when the market is glutted, and 

 there may be a difficulty in selling at ,20, and 

 leaving no profit on the culture. 



The first sum, and much more, is realized by the 

 first sales of lettuces in the market. Hundreds of 

 thousands are raised by sowing very thinly, under 

 glazed sashes, in October, transplanting an inch or two 

 apart after the turn of the year, sheltering with 

 glass, mats, or straw screens, then finally putting out, 

 a foot asunder, as soon as the weather is mild enough 

 for growth in the open. That is the way the most 

 profitable of the tall White Cos lettuces are grown, 



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