252 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



A greater variety of irarden veijetables was selected for 

 trial. Each box was planted on October 11 with seed of the 

 following : — 



Lettuce, variety Hanson. 

 Spinach, variety New Zealand. 

 Beets, variety Egyptian. 

 Tomato, variety Essex Hybrid. 



The boxes were treated similarly with regard to tempera- 

 ture and time of watering. To control the experiment, part 

 of the vegetation house was turned to account to raise the 

 same varieties of vegetables in the same soil, properly 

 manured with vegetable compost from a successfully man- 

 aged hot-bed. On October 17 the lettuce and spinach 

 appeared, and by Octol)er 20 the remaining seeds had 

 sprouted. The following notes relating to the difierent 

 garden vegetables on trial may not be without interest in 

 this connection, although still of a preliminary character : — 



Lettuce. — The seed germinated well in all cases except 

 with box 12, in which tlie number was somewhat scanty. 

 During the first two or three weeks of growth the difference 

 in the boxes was not very marked, although on November 

 20 1, 2 and 3 were noted as being generally of poorer 

 quality than the others, with 4, 5 and 6 next. Nos. 2 

 and 5 were the poorest in their respective groups, as were 

 .the other boxes (8 and 12) in which the nitrogen was 

 furnished by ammonia salts. On December 26 the lettuce 

 was taken from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, to make room for other 

 plants ; 1,2 and 3 showed perhaps a less satisfactory^ 

 growth than the others. January 10 the lettuce was 

 removed from 9 and 10, having made a very satisfactory 

 growth, and on January 10 from 7 and 8, also with a 

 good gro^\i;h. 



Beets. — The seed germinated well in all cases, and 

 during the first part of the growing period no very great 

 differences were ol^scrvcd in the general appearance of the 

 various boxes. The following table gives the heights of the 

 plants at different dates : — 



