LETTUCE 



279 



grower can make a profit on his crop even if his only competitors 

 are the forcing-house men at the North. 



To secure plants for the field crop the seed should be sown in 

 a seed bed about September 15, and the seedlings transplanted to 

 the field about October 1 5 and set in rows 2 or 2\ feet apart, at 

 intervals of 10 or 12 inches. The area to which the young seed- 

 lings are to be transplanted should be thoroughly prepared and 

 enriched by the use of stable manure and high-grade fertilizer. 

 As a rule, it will be impossible to secure stable manure when the 



FIG. 105. Lettuce as a field crop in Florida 



crop is grown on a commercial scale ; but fertilizers carrying 

 from 8 to 10 per cent of nitrogen, from 6 to 8 per cent of phos- 

 phoric acid, and about 6 per cent of potash, applied at the rate of 

 45 pounds to 100 yards of row, is the usual application. Fifteen 

 pounds of this should be applied along the row at the time of 

 transplanting, and the remainder divided into two side applica- 

 tions of 15 pounds each at intervals of two or three weeks after 

 the crop has been set in the field. 



The variety chiefly used for field culture in Florida is Big 

 Boston or selections from it adapted to Southern conditions. The 

 crop is harvested between December 15 and January 15. It is 



