the. 



e, they may need to be sprinkled 

 ■ the last time. No more water 

 in to mature. Many think that 

 it watering, but that is wrong, 

 lit go down it' the top is kept 



becaiisr ti,.' iMi.i - >A' 

 constantly wet, and a 

 watered until it begins Ti I I i m :id. 



The kind of Lettuce ui;. ihove remarks 



is the head variety, eallr. I m m n, i.iii.iisthe Boston 

 Lettuce. This crop shoiild In- ready to begin to pull in 

 six or seven weeks from time of last transplanting. 

 According to the previous statements, it has taken thir- 

 teen weeks from seed to produce a crop. This is start- 

 ing in September or October. Earlier than this the time 

 will be one or two weeks less. It is customary to pull 

 over the bed once and take out the best ones, and then 

 give the remainder a good wetting. In about one week 

 those left will be fit to pull clean. After the first trans- 

 planting to i inches, it is the surest way to smoke the 

 house throe nights in succession, once the second week 

 and once the third week. This is done to keep the plants 

 free from disease or from the green-rty or louse. If it is 



desired to follow with a seeiiiiil en i|M if Lett UI n tin- >:iiiie 



bed, the plants must be reaih I. n' ihr ^ ml erni. \\ Inn 



the first is taken off, and thus l,,-i. n.i tiue-nf tlir Imu-e. 



In hotbeds much the .?aii]e ei.iijM- is imisueil as m il,.- 

 house; sometimes one will sueeeed better lliau tlie utlier. 

 For midwinter the houses are the better, and for late 

 spring the beds. 



The best way of heating the beds is by the use of hot 

 stable manure placed in the bottom of the bed, and 

 about 8 inches of loam on top. Ten inches of manure, 

 hot, will hold for two crops of Lettuce. The first crop 

 will need a little special fertilizer. The second crop 



"* require about 3 inches of stalile manure prepared as 



for the houses. The be. 

 covered with coarse mat 

 beds, after setting, are e. 



whe 



th<. 



the fall and 

 ■anted. The 

 nats or shut- 

 uw freezing, 



and Vetltilrltril hv ,l:iv win : :. I' ... 



Thelui' I:, ri 1..1! : ,. . . - . :iui andthetem- 



peratui- 1 . ; . ... |., proper temper- 



ature Im ■ _ .._.!,. I .:...', ajid 70° by day. 



For eoiii iiri.. 1- '-r^.y- ili)-'iu:;li il.i - i.:i sou, SOW every 

 week eiiougli seeil to give the plants required. One 

 ounce should produce 5,000 plants. This sowing is con- 

 tinued until February 1, which is the time to sow the seed 

 for the i-ri.|) to lie set out in the field. These plants are 



grown in III.'!.. .|- :uiil luirilelied nil' lirfori- 1 i I r \' are set 

 out; tliiii ■. ii,ins|,l,.,,iteil Irmn siiil'-liril to 4 



inches m .: i i... i.l-, .luil nn- ilieii t:iKi.ii u|i and 

 trans|ilani. .1 m in. in hi. This is a ver\- . I i iVi rent variety 

 of Letluee. It vmII nut head ill the liouses, while the 

 variety grown iu the houses will not grow in the field. 



A great improvement has been made in the varieties 

 of Lettuce. The variety grown twenty years ago called 

 White Seeri 'reniiistinll was a very fine Lettuce and 

 would pack (i .lozeii to the barrel-box or 10 dozen to the 

 barrel. Imt ilie iuiprnved variety of to-day will fill 3 

 dozen to the hurrel Imx and 5 to 6 dozen to the barrel. 

 The new variety is called the New Hothouse Lettuce, 

 and will grow in beds just as well as in the house. 



Experiments made with the electric light have been 

 very successful. It not only hastens the time of grow- 

 ing, but also improves the size and quality of the head. 

 The writer estimates that the light increases the size 

 and quality 10 per cent and hastens the time of growth 

 15 per cent. This is by the use of arc lights over the 

 houses by night. This could not be praetieed on hot- 

 beds, because they are covered by iljlit, p., twnnn the 

 first of November and the first ..r M ' ■' ' ,s are 

 very short and the nights very loll L . ii.- . Im-tric 



light increases the length of the iln . i; .. i; npiilied 



it has the same effect as the longer .l.i;, ., it .-priny have 

 upon the growth of crops. 



The Lettuce, when prepared for market, is pulled, 

 then washed, and for the Boston market is put in boxes 

 of 3 dozen each and sold at wholesale by the box. The 

 smaller heads are packed 4 dozen in each box and are 

 usually sold per box for about one-half the 3-dozen size. 

 When packing for other markets, as New York, Phila- 

 delphia, Washington or Chicago, it is packed in cases 

 that will hold a barrel. These cases have a partition in 



LELT.EXA 



the center, so that the Lettuce when packed will not 

 all fall to one end should the eases be roughly handled. 

 The expense of sending a case from Boston to New 

 York is 25 cts., to Philadelphia 50 cts., and to Chicago 

 75 cts. 



The crop from the South has affected our sales very 

 much in the midwinter, but the climate seems to have 

 changed in that locality so that it is in our favor, for of 

 late years they have cold weather there two or three 

 times each season, thus giving us the market. Our 

 Lettuce is far superior to theirs and of a different 

 variety. They have named theirs the Big Boston. It 

 will be !;ppn that the name of Boston is very popular in 



till- T.i-ftii.'.- mrirkef. This inferior I.ettliee cnlliinL- frnra 



most when there is but very little sun, and least when 

 there is most sun; and if the plant is examined there 

 will be found a diseased root. Here the benefit of the 



tuce, and In 

 very beneii 

 The prir. 

 is a questi.i 

 made by so 

 Gardeners' 



\V. W. Kawson. 



LEUCADfiNDEOH (Greek, white tree). 

 This genus includes the celebrated Silver 

 Cape of Good Hope (see Fig. 1268), which hi 

 and unique habit. Its Ivs. 

 are densely covered with 

 white silky hairs. This 

 tree grows wild only on 

 Table Mountain. In the 

 first quarter of the cen- 

 tury it was considered of 

 great importance for fire- 

 wood. It is said to grow 

 poorly away from the 

 Cape, except in S. Calif., 

 where it generally does 

 well outdoors. It is also 

 rarely cult, in the East in 

 tubs, being protected in a 

 cool greenhouse during 

 winter and placed on the 

 lawn in summer. The Sil- 

 ver Tree attains 30 ft. at 

 the Cape. The trees are 

 practically male and fe- 



male 



dillieiilt t" laisn. There is no monograph of this genus 

 sin. e .M, ism r s il, DC.Prod. Vol. 14. 1856. but the genus 

 will I..- revi.«,-.l in a forthcoming volume of Flora 

 Capeusis. 



arginteum, R.Br. Fig. 1268. Branches densely leafy: 

 Ivs. sessile, 3-6 in. long, }i-l in. wide, callous and black- 

 ish at the apex, lanceolate, acute, silvery white and silky: 

 involucres spreading, longer than the globular head of 

 fls. : nut ventricose, turgid, wingless, the whole style and 

 calyx persisting with it, obovate. B.R. 12:979. V. 5:282, 

 283. 



LEUCffiWA (probably from Greek, ?e«io«, white; re- 

 ferring to the fls.). l/eguminbste. This includes a tree 

 known in S. Fla. as the White Popinac, a rapid grower, 

 with acacia-like foliage and whitish fls. It is also cult, 

 in S. Calif. The genus has abinit 9 species, found in 



