LETTUCE 



LETTUCE 



905 



sparingly and covering it lightly, say one-half inch 

 ieep, although in good soil the seed will come up read- 

 ily even if placed an inch or so below the level of the 

 mrface. The varieties catalogued by seedsmen as suit- 

 jble for summer culture are almost endless, and most 

 )f them are good enough. Among the standard sorts 

 we have the Hanson, Deacon, Simpson, Salamander, 

 Stubborn Seeder, several Butter Lettuces, etc. Because 

 )f our hot, dry seasons, the Cos Lettuces are less popu- 

 lar in this country than in Europe. The heads should 

 oe tied up and blanched, for the best results. The 

 plants of drill-sown Lettuces should be thinned early. 

 For home use we leave them at first only a few inches 

 apart, so that they have just room enough to form little 

 heads. Every other plant may then be taken out and 

 used for the home table. These little heads are delicious. 

 The remaining heads are left to attain full size and are 

 then used for the table or for market. If grown for 

 market only, the plants are thinned to stand not less 

 than 5 or 6 inches apart from the start. In due time 

 every other plant can be taken up for market, while the 

 ones remaining have a chance to grow to largest size 

 afterward. From early spring until along in August we 

 sow a few rows of these summer Lettuces every two 

 weeks or so, and thus try to provide a continuous sup- 

 ply of good heads. The demand may drop off for a few 

 days, or even weeks, but it is sure to revive. If we can 



1267. Curling, or Grand Rapids Lettuce. 



manage to have good Lettuce late in the fall it will sel- 

 dom go begging for customers. 



Sometimes we may wish to raise seed of a sort that 

 suits our purposes. All we have to do is to leave some 

 of the plants in the rows, until the larger part of the 

 seeds on a plant have matured. The plant is then cut 

 off near the ground and exposed on a sheet to sun and 

 air to dry. The seeds are then to be thrashed out and 

 cleaned. T. GREINBB. 



LETTUCE FOR THE VILLAGE GARDEN AND CITY YARD. 

 The value of Lettuce for the table depends largely upon 

 its being fresh. A very small area may be made to 

 produce an abundant supply for an ordinary-sized family. 

 The plant is quite healthy and hardy, when young endur- 

 ing a considerable frost without injury. It has few in- 

 sect enemies and the requisites for its successful culture 

 are few and easily understood. On this account it can 

 be grown with greater satisfaction and profit on a village 

 lot, or even in a city backyard, than can most of our gar- 

 den vegetables. To produce it of the best quality under 

 these conditions, as early in the spring as the ground is 

 at all dry and the grass begins to start, a bit of ground 

 should be well dressed with fine manure, putting on from 

 one-half a bushel to one bushel to the square yard, and 

 then well spading up, working in the manure and mak- 

 ing the bed as fine and smooth as possible. Make a 

 mark about one inch deep, drop in the seed at the 



rate of from 25 to 50 seeds to the foot, and cover with 

 from one-fourth to one-half an inch of fine soil pressed 

 down with the hoe or hand. From two feet to two yards 

 of such row for each member of the family should fur- 

 nish an abundance for the time that the product of a 

 single planting is usable, and if more than one row is 

 planted they should be about two feet apart. In from 15 

 to 20 days the young plants should be thinned out leav- 

 ing 8 to 10 to the foot, and at the same time a second row, 

 to give a succession, should be planted. About 20 days 

 later the first row should be re-thinned, leaving plants 

 from 6 to 12 inches apart according to the size of the 

 variety, and a third row planted. A fourth planting may 

 be made, but Lettuce planted as late as the time of the 

 ripening of strawberries is not likely to do very well un- 

 less protected from the sun and heat. A supply of fine 

 fall Lettuce may be secured if, in August or early Sep- 

 tember, we re-manure and spade the ground which was 

 occupied by the first crop, and make a trench some 6 or 

 8 inches deep and fill this with water. When this has 

 soaked away, refill, and repeat this from one to six 

 times, according to the dryness, of the soil. Fill this 

 trench with fine, moist, not wet soil, in which make a 

 mark and sow the seed as in the spring. Cover the row 

 with a foot-wide board, and about three days later put 

 some bricks under so as to hold the board about two 

 inches above the soil. As soon as the plants are well up 

 turn the bricks so as to hold the board about four inches 

 up, and take it off altogether about five o'clock in the 

 afternoon, leaving it off until eight or nine in the morn- 

 ing. On cloudy days give more exposure, as the plants 

 develop until the shade is entirely dispensed with. 

 Some of the finest Lettuce the writer has ever seen was 

 grown in a city yard by this method. W. W. TRACY. 



LETTUCE FORCING. This vegetable is one of the prin- 

 cipal money crops of the market-gardener in winter. It 

 is grown in hotbeds and hothouses. The old way is to 

 raise it in hotbeds, but since the experiments of grow- 

 ing in houses have been so successful it is grown mostly 

 in them. 



For the first early crop to be grown in beds or houses, 

 the seed is sown in the seedhouse about August 20, in 

 the latitude of Boston. By this means, the Lettuce will 

 be brought into market the latter part of October or the 

 first of November, after the frost has spoiled the out- 

 door crop ; and thus it often brings very good prices. 

 The sowing is made in a bed in the house prepared for 

 the purpose with sterilized soil, so that there will be no 

 fear of a rusty root or mildew on the plants. The soil 

 should be 10 inches deep, well moistened and beat up 

 very fine, with no manure or fertilizer. For every ounce 

 of seed, prepare a space 6 feet square, raking off the bed 

 as smooth as possible. Sow the seed and then sprinkle 

 the bed with water. Then sift on one-fourth of an inch 

 of either sterilized or clean subsoil, preferably the lat- 

 ter. In about four days the plantlets will appear. Three 

 weeks from sowing, the plants will be ready for trans- 

 planting. This should be done at the proper time, that 

 is, before the plants become too large. Prepare the soil 

 the same as for the seed-bed. If 3 inches of the steri- 

 lized soil, or some new soil that no Lettuce has been 

 grown in, can be had, it will be sufficient. Transplant 

 the Lettuce 4 inches apart in sufficient quantity to set 

 out the prepared space. In three or four weeks these 

 plants will be large enough to again transplant into the 

 bed or house intended for them. Sterilizing is done in a 

 box 5x4 feet and 3 feet deep, with several punctured 

 steam pipes in the bottom. The soil should heated to 

 200. 



In preparing the bed for the last transplanting, the 

 soil should be well wet before working and then let 

 stand until the water has all drained off, which will be 

 in about twenty-four hours. Now put in stable manure, 

 worked fine with the first heat out of it, which is secured 

 by piling and overhauling twice a week for two or three 

 weeks before using. Apply this prepared manure about 

 3 inches deep and dig into the soil to a depth of 12 to 

 15 inches. Rake off and mark with the marker 8 inches 

 apart. If the soil is new no sterilization is needed, but 

 if old would prefer about 2 inches of the top sterilized. 

 This is done to prevent the mildew and disease that 

 often comes from old, worn-out soil. 



If the bed is properly prepared it will need no water- 



