18<fJ 



CiLEANINGS IN IJEK CULTURE. 



471 



HcfDrc we get any further along I wish to 

 give you a picture of the fails alliuied to on 

 page 4".'(i of our last issui'. and descrihed more 

 fully on page 173 of oui' issue for Maicli 1. 

 Fiiend Mi'lnlyre liandled tlie Kodak, and you 

 see he has (as he usually does) made a success 

 of it. 



This falls is remarkable from the fact that 

 chemicals contaiuinl in the water have formed 

 a sort of li'ough or spoul ail the way fiom llie 

 toi) of tiie falls to the hottoiu. So the water 

 insti'ad of falling, simply " slides down," as it 

 wero. Xotic(> the heni strata of rocks, as if 

 some mighty crushing weight liad hent down 

 tht> very (>arth itscMf at ilie vi'ry point where 

 the water runs over. At the left of the picture 

 is a cavity in the rocks. One of the boys en- 

 sconced hiiuself in here; but the Kodak, it 

 seems, did uot quite bring him out. The rest 

 of us were around the falls in different positions; 

 but we do not seem to be thei'e In the picture. 

 I have forgotten liie distance, but I think the 

 water comes down soiue :«) or 40 feet. I had 

 cliiubed up the rocky clitTs until I was nearly 

 on a level with the canyon above; but friend 

 M. admonislied us tiiat. if we did not hasten 

 back, we could not make the train and keep our 

 appointments. In our next issue I shall have 

 something more to say about the San Jacinto 

 Valley and the good people who live there. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



THE MATTEK OF LETTUCE ON OUR QUARTER- 

 ACRE FARM. 



In our issue for June 1 I spoke about getting 

 30 cents per lb. for Grand Rapids lettuce. We 

 get only 20 cents now: but I have a little more 

 to tell you in regard to those lettuce-beds. 

 They are covered by IS sash, making about <30 

 feet of bed. About a month ago I commenced 

 cutting the lettuce wherever it seemed to be 

 thickest, or had just begun to crowd a little. 

 The demand for it was a little more than the 

 supply, so we kept the price up to 30 cents per 

 lb., right straight along, until about a week 

 ago. 



The plants were put out. as nearly as I can 

 recollect, about the middle of March. The 

 ground was already rich, and we put on the 

 glass and took off the glass until I really be- 

 gan to be afraid the labor was going to be more 

 than the lettuce would come to. As there was 

 no steam heat under the beds, the lettuce did 

 not grow (piite to suit me. One day our team- 

 ster said he must have the horses shod; and in 

 order to kill two birds witli one stone, we get a 

 load of manure of the blacksmith while he is at 

 work at the horses. This manure, you know, 

 has no straw nor bedding with it. Besides 

 that, it has parings from the horses' hoofs, par- 

 ticles of iion. etc. Somi'ljody has suggested 

 that iht! iron is valuable for manure. I do not 

 know how true this is. but I rather doubt it. I 

 do know, however, that the manure that we 

 get at the blacksmith-shop is always very val- 

 uable. It wa* put down in one of the roads 

 near these lettuce-beds: and as it rained al- 

 most every day I wanted to hurry and put it on 

 some crop before its streiigth was leached out. 

 Two schoolboys came along pretty soon and 

 wanted a job. "All right." said I. "(Jet a 

 couple of dust-pans out of the store, and put 

 that heap of manure nicely between those let- 

 tuce-plants. Cover the ground entirely, but 

 don't you cover a single lettuce-leaf." They 

 went at it like young beavers; and although it 



was (|uite a job they got it done in nice shape. 

 Of course, it took some tinu', aiui 1 again began 

 feeling troubled for fear the lettuce would nev- 

 ei pay for the time, manure, and handling the 

 sash. With the April showers, however (that 

 did not comi' until along in Man), it began to 

 attract the attention of pass(>rsby: and when I 

 found that peopl(> would have it before it was 

 ready to cut, and even if it did cost .'50 cis. per 

 III.. 1 took courage. \Vell. I havi' been taking 

 out a |)lanl here and there, wherever it was 

 crowded most, for fully four wc^eks: and even 

 now. .June 8, the beds are full and entire*— " a 

 thing of beauty aiul a joy forever" to the really 

 enthusiastic gardener. Every man, woman, or 

 child, or (iven litlli' girl, that pa.sses those let- 

 tuce-beds responds with a smile to my interro- 

 gation, "There, sis, isn't that pretty?'' 



How nuich money have I taken from that 

 bed in tli<>se four we(!ks, and still have it full 

 and comi)lete everyday? Well, we have got 

 as much as .*30.()() or !?40.00: and as the remain- 

 ing heads weigh nearly a pound each, and 

 some of them would about (ill a peck measure, 

 if they do not go to seed prettv soon we shall 

 get S30.00 or $40.(XJ more. In order to get these 

 I)rices. however, we have got to work and plan. 

 For instance: We had a similar bed of Boston 

 Market lettuce. But the people had taken such 

 a fancy to the Grand Rapids, with its wonder- 

 ful beauty, that they did not care much for the 

 Boston Market. The latter was headitig up, 

 however, and I knew it must be sold. So I fixed 

 a basket so as to look very attractive, with the 

 little rose-tinted heads sprinkled with dew, and 

 told the boys they must push it, and therefore 

 put it at half price, only 10 cents per lb. This 

 made the large heads come to a nickel, while 

 the moderate-sized ones were two for a nickel. 

 And then they started. I was just in time with 

 my project, for next morning at least a dozen 

 heads had burst to send up a seed-stalk; by 

 noon another dozen had done the same thing; 

 and by another morning, over 30 or 40 had to be 

 sold. I put on the wagon such a quantity that 

 I felt sure the boys would not sell them all. 

 But by 9 o'clock I was encouraged by the re- 

 port that the Boston Market lettuce was all 

 gone, and that thc^y could have sold more. 

 From that time on I made it my business to 

 watch that bed and take out every head just as 

 it showed symptoms of shooting up to seed. 

 To-morrow morinng takes every last head, 

 and hardly otie was lost. This bed is only 1.5 

 feet long — just about what would be covered by 

 five sash, and it has yielded us altogether fully 

 .'JIO.OO. or S2.00.p(u- sash. It is now ready for 

 another crop. 



You may say. " Oh I well, lettuce is a big staple 

 in market-gardening. You could not do it on 

 your rvhiile quarter - acre." Wait a minute. 

 Asparagus under glass will do fullv as well, if 

 not better; wax beans, ditto; bush lima beans, 

 ditto. Eclipse beets, our first crop under per- 

 haps 10 sash. I think have done fully as well. 

 They have all been sold at from 10 to l.'i cents 

 peril).; perhaps fully half at 15 cents. Early 

 cabbage will do nearly as well: and I feel sure 

 that the White Plume celery will do as well, 

 although we have not got "around to iirove it 

 yet; extra early corn, nearly as well: cucum- 

 bers, you have already heard a report from by 

 friend Ransom. I have doiu^ but little with 

 early melons. Onions will surely do as well as 

 lettuci'. We made our first pulling, of onions 

 under glass, to-day. American Wonder peas we 

 have tested to some extent. Our first picking is 

 ready to-day. grown over the steam-pipes. Our 

 first Early Ohio potatoes were dug June 4. 



* Our minister says these lettuce-beds are like the 

 widow's ci use of oil. 



