102 LETTUCE. 



unusually cloudy and "slow "in winter: Landreth Forc- 

 ing lettuce sown in flats February 24; transplanted to 

 beds, March 17 ; first heads marketed, under normal con- 

 ditions, May 10 ; first heads marketed trom a compartment 

 receiving electric light at night (a total of 84 hours), April 

 30, or 44 days from seed. Simpson Curled was sown 

 October 3 ; November 7, transplanted to bed. It was 

 desired to hold the crop back, so that the house was 

 kept very cold ; and the variety is not well adapted to 

 quick forcing, so that it was January 30 before the entire 

 crop was fit for market, making 119 days from seed. 

 Grand Rapids lettuce sown December 28 ; transplanted 

 to bed, January 16 ; began marketing March 21. This 

 makes 72 days from seed, in the dark months ; and at 

 least a week could have been gained if we had not been 

 obliged to delay transplanting whilst waiting for a crop 

 of chrysanthemums to come off the bed. 



A grower's remarks. W. W. Rawson, a prominent 

 grower of heading lettuce near Boston, is reported* in 

 the following sentences respecting some of the essential 

 points in the management of the crop: "With lettuce 

 planted on the 2oth of August, the heads are ready for 

 market on the aoth of October. Every five days I plant 

 3 ounces of lettuce seed, and this supplies my green- 

 houses with plants during the winter, one house being 

 set out every week. I transplant twice, first at the fourth 

 week, setting them 4 inches apart ; second at the sixth 

 week when they are put 8 inches apart. They head dur- 

 ing the seventh and eighth weeks. During December, 

 January, February and March there is a continuous crop. 

 The last crop of lettuces from the greenhouse is in the 

 middle of April. After that I raise them in sashes and 

 in the open air. The house should be ventilated from 

 the ridge ; if this is not enough, then from one side also. 

 The temperature should be warmest when the crop is 



*American Gardening, xvii. 197 (March 28, 1896). 



