1892.] ESSAYS. 165 



put in its place ; when the frames are all in, the soil should be 

 covered a few inches in depth with forest leaves or old hay or 

 straw to keep out the frost, the shutters put on th'e frames to 

 keep out the storms, and if the paths between the beds are filled 

 with leaves to pervent the ground from freezing there all the 

 better. Beds protected in this way can be started any mild day 

 in winter and will require less heat than if the ground is allowed 

 to freeze. The beds should pitch four or five inches in the width 

 so as to carry the water off readily. A tight board fence about 

 seven feet high should be built three and one-half feet from the 

 back side of the bed to break the winds, the fence should slant back 

 about a foot in the height, this will furnish a convenient support 

 against which to lean shutters and mats. The first crop to start 

 is lettuce and may be started at any time that suits the grower, 

 but the growth is so slow in the short days of early winter that 

 it hardly pays to sow the seed till about Jan. 1st. The seed bed 

 should be made of about 18 or 20 inches of fresh horse manure 

 covered with 6 or 8 inches of fine sandy soil, the seed should not 

 be sown for five or six days, this will give time to start the weed 

 seed and by working the bed over two or three times the weeds 

 will be destroyed and the first strong heat of the manure pass 

 off insuring stronger plants. When the second set of leaves are 

 well devolopedanew bed should be prepared using less manure, 

 and the plants pricked out 2 inches apart each way, this will 

 give large strong plants ready for the heading bed about the 10th 

 of Feb. ; 10 or 12 inches of manure will be sufficient for this bed. 

 A second lot of plants should be grown ready to fill the beds as soon 

 as the first crop is out, and the second crop can be followed by 

 cucumbers having them well grown in pots or old strawberry bas- 

 kets ; the heat need not be renewed in this bed, as the sun will 

 furnish heat enough, or cucumbers may follow the first crop of 

 lettuce ; by putting in new strong heat, they will come into bear- 

 ing the last of May. Seed for early crop of out-door lettuce 

 should be sown about March 10th and be transplanted once un- 

 der glass ; there should be but very little heat under these plants ; 

 this will give good strong plants ready for the field the last week 

 in April which is about as early as it will pay to set them ; if set 



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