116 



TRANSPLANTED CROPS 



sand. This is to prevent the soil in the pots from drying out 

 too rapidly. 



When set in the open ground the lettuce plants should be 

 planted twelve inches apart in the row in order to allow them 

 sufficient room in which to develop (Fig. 65). The rows may be 

 either twelve or eighteen inches apart. The latter distance makes 

 tillage more convenient. 



Thorough cultivation should be given the lettuce from the time 

 it is set in the field, in order that moisture may be conserved. If 

 the weather is dry, artificial watering is an advantage. Shading 

 with screens of tobacco cloth or similar fabric is also beneficial 



to lettuce in case the weather 

 should be slightly too warm 

 and dry. 



Constructing Screens for 

 ohading Lettuce. — If lettuce 

 is to be grown under screens, 

 there are two ways of making 

 these screens. The more usual 

 method is to set posts in the 

 ground and construct a frame- 

 work about seven feet high, 

 over as large an area as it is 

 desired to shade. The tobacco 

 cloth is stretched over the 

 sides and ends as well as the 

 top of this frame, making a 

 complete enclosure that will 

 subdue the intensity of the 

 sunlight and retard evaporation of moisture from the soil (Fig. 66). 

 The object of having the framework so high is to enable a man to 

 stand erect while working under it in tending the lettuce. Another 

 method is to make a movable screen by stretching the cloth over 

 an inverted V-shaped frame with sides two to three feet wide and 

 ten to twelve feet long. If the frame is made of one by two-inch 

 wooden strips it will be sufficiently light to be easily handled, 

 and can be placed over a row or two of lettuce at any time desired. 

 Some varieties of head lettuce will stand more heat than others 

 and these sorts should be selected where the weather is likely to 

 be getting warm when the lettuce is heading. 



In localities where head lettuce can be grown from outdoor 



Fia, 65. — A well-developed head of Hanson 

 lettuce. The plant is over a foot across. 



