1895.] ESSAYS. 31 



amount the}' generally have to supply the want, now that the South- 

 ern crop is cut off ; but that is an exception here in New England. 



In regard to the difficulty of growing it, I wanted to speak of one 

 or two points which Professor Goessmann gave us here last week, 

 that we have not always understood, on various fertilizers and con- 

 ditions of the soil. There is great difficulty in growing lettuce by 

 artificial heat at this season of the year ; the days are so short and the 

 nights so long that it is extremely difficult to grow it without its be- 

 coming diseased. There are various fungoid diseases, some of which 

 we kuow and some we do not know, which will sometimes nearly 

 ruin the crop after it is almost ready to ship. 



Professor Goessmann explained to us, when the soil was lacking in 

 potash, how we could tell it. That was the reason of the rottiug of 

 the lettuce at this time of the year. 



Some are growing it by electricity ; he thinks it is a benefit. I 

 know that a plant will grow better under electric light than it will 

 around the corner of a building where the light don't shine. 



Mr. Budlong, one of the largest growers in New England, said, 

 "You may perform the same operation as to planting, temperature, 

 culture and watering and all that, and you never will get the same 

 result twice alike in lettuce growing." One man told me after he had 

 grown lettuce forty-five years that he thought it was only mere luck 

 and chance, where he grew four crops a year he only got about one 

 good crop once in four years. This is not showing a great deal of 

 ability. In regard to other vegetables, I presume there are others who 

 will have more to sa3^ 



Mr. Stevens, of Wellesley. Mr. Chairman, — I have been especi- 

 ally interested in the very practical essay of Mr. Kinney ; I admire 

 the ground he has taken in making quality the leading point. I am 

 not much of a vegetable grower, devoting more of my time to small- 

 fruits, but he has said several things of which I heartily approve. 

 Among others, that on account of the intelligent criticism we meet in 

 the market of New England, they require a first-class vegetable put 

 up in first-class style. We must turn our attention, I think, in fruit 

 culture, in flowers and in vegetables, to perfection in quality as well 

 as size. 



Mr. Kinney spoke of celery, the Prince of plants in the vegetable 

 family, so wholesome, so nutritious and so desirable that I hope our 

 tables will be supplied with it at every meal possible. He also spoke 

 about the new fancy kinds, the beautiful foliage almost equal to flow- 

 ers. My attention was once very strikingly called to that in a trip I 



