2 8o GARDEN FARMING 



usually packed in half-barrel, Delaware-type baskets, or hampers, 

 as shown in figure 106, and shipped by express ; if shipped in 

 carload lots, it can go by fast freight under refrigeration. 



LETTUCE AS A FRAME CROP 



The use of frames, that is, hotbed sash over unheated areas, 

 is not practiced at the North as much as at the South. At the 

 North frames are used to bring on plants in the autumn and to 



FIG. 1 06. Lettuce packing Delaware-type basket 



protect them during the winter without inducing growth. In this 

 capacity frames prove useful with many half-hardy crops such as 

 lettuce, cabbage, and rhubarb. North of Washington, D.C., frames 

 are used only to a limited extent for bringing crops to maturity. 

 If crops are to be forced in that latitude, it is considered more 

 economical to grow them in regularly constructed, heated forcing 

 houses or hotbeds than in frames. Farther south, however, where 

 artificial heat is not necessary and where protection alone will 

 serve to carry the plants through the winter, frames are more 

 economical than cold houses. Even in localities where lettuce 

 might be successfully grown in frames with glass protection, it is 



