No. 4.] MAKKET GARDENING. 35 



the way until I get over it, because I know he is going to 

 make money for me, and that is what he is there for, and we 

 can't always feel agreeable, — I don't, all the time ; and when 

 the boss is feeling disagreeable and the men are doing pretty 

 well, he better keep out of sight, take a trip out to visit his 

 neighbors, visit his neighbors in the same line of business 

 once a week, and see if they are not in the same trouble he 

 is with insects and diseases. And he should co-operate with 

 them in getting our experiment stations to do the work for us. 



Now, for years I have tried to produce spinach, and have 

 been quite successful in producing a very good article, — a 

 late fall spinach, having very little trouble with the yellow 

 bee ; but one year I had considerable trouble, and I spoke to 

 our experiment station about it, and, as the lecturer says, 

 they take very little notice of one man's question, but if we 

 would organize a little more thoroughly and co-operate with 

 each other, we could get the experiment stations to give more 

 time to this trouble. One trouble in lettuce growing is what 

 I call the white feather. The lettuce plants in the open field 

 will be growing all right until about three weeks old, and 

 then one leaf will start right up like a white feather, and the 

 center of that plant will never head, while a very nice plant 

 without that trouble may develop to a head which will weigh 

 a pound or a pound and a quarter. 



The lecturer says that good culture and good seel and 

 plenty of plant food ought to cure any trouble in the growth 

 of the plant, so that it would not be subject to disease; but 

 we certainly have prepared our soil thoroughly, as Mr. Haw- 

 son has said, thoroughly plowed it, harrowed it and mixed 

 the manure with it, so that every foot ought to be exactly 

 the same as far as plant food goes and as far as the culture 

 goes, and yet one head of lettuce ten inches from another is 

 very different. 



The Chair. We would be very glad to hear from Mr. 

 Cook of Shrewsbury. 



Mr. Cook. I think keeping accounts one of the essential 

 points in market gardening, — to know what our crops cost 

 us, especially those grown under glass. 



Concerning the use of fertilizers, of course a good many 



