Appendix. — 319 



hours of electric light. Just a month later the first heads were 

 sold from the light house, but it was six weeks later when the 

 first heads were sold from the dark house. In other words, the 

 electric light plants were two weeks ahead of the others. This 

 gain had been purchased by 161^^ hours of electric light, worth 

 at current prices of street lighting about $y ; this will give an 

 idea as to economic values. The electric light plants were in 

 every way as good in quality as those grown in the dark 

 house ; in fact, the two could not be told apart except for their 

 different sizes. The illustrations show representative portions 

 of the crops as they appeared five weeks after being transplanted 

 to permanent quarters. The electric light plants were upon the 

 benches 44 days before the first heads were sold. During this 

 time there were 20 nights in which the light did not run, and 

 there had been but 84 hours of electric light, worth about ;^3.50. 

 The lamp exerted this influence throughout a house 20x30, and 



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Bench of Lettuce in House with Electric Light. 



the results were as well marked in the most remote part as they 

 were near the lamp. If the same results can be obtained by 

 hanging the lamp over the house, instead of inside of it, by that 

 means several houses might be lighted at once." 



Mr. W. W. Rawson, the famous market gardener of Arling- 

 ton, near Boston, Mass., was probably the first to use the electric 

 light for commercial lettuce forcing. The street lamps which 

 hung near his houses, and their beneficial effects, pointed the 

 way to the successful employment of electric light for this pur- 

 pose. He estimates the gain of time in the production of a 

 lettuce crop at about 10 per cent, over the time required for 

 the production of an equal crop in a dark house, and says 

 that the gain produced upon one crop pays for running the 

 lamps for the entire winter. The plants seem to head up better 

 under the light and the quality to be superior. The effect of the 

 light is marked at a distance of 100 feet from the lamp. 



