290 GARDEN FARMING 



containers should be stored in the shade in the coolest possible 

 location or placed in a cool room or refrigerator. 



Shipment. Because of its perishable nature, lettuce must be 

 shipped under the most favorable conditions. If less than car lots 

 are to be shipped, express is the only satisfactory method. If car- 

 load shipments can be made, fast freight under refrigeration, on 

 roads which give special attention to the movement of perishable 

 products, will prove satisfactory. For distances exceeding IQO miles 

 carload shipments must be handled in refrigerator cars, and for 

 shorter distances cool cars will be found an advantage during trying 

 seasons. There is one factor in the shipper's favor : lettuce for the 

 early market is usually grown at the South in a warmer climate than 

 that in which it is marketed, and therefore the shipments northward 

 have a tendency to get cooled or chilled in transit. When weather 

 conditions are favorable, artificial cold is not necessary but desirable. 



Profit in lettuce culture. While lettuce is one of the most ex- 

 acting truck crops grown by the gardener, when well handled it is 

 one of the most profitable. Gardeners near the large cities in the 

 North, who grow lettuce under glass, annually produce two or three 

 crops of lettuce and one crop of cucumbers, tomatoes, or cauliflower. 

 The lettuce will average from 60 to 75 cents per dozen heads for 

 each of the three crops. Outdoor cultivators at favored locations 

 along the Atlantic coast grow two crops of lettuce and one crop 

 of string beans on the same soil in twelve months. 



MUSHROOMS 



The mushroom differs from all other garden plants in structure 

 and conformation. Its requirements, too, are quite as distinct as is 

 its conformation. While the cultivation of mushrooms is less cer- 

 tain than that of many plants, a successful crop is very remuner- 

 ative, a good price usually being paid for a high-grade product. 

 A number of gardeners in the eastern United States give the 

 crop special attention. 



Botany. Botanically, the mushroom belongs to a different di- 

 vision of the vegetable kingdom from the ordinary vegetables. It 

 is more primitive both in structure and method of reproduction 

 than any of the other vegetables. It is classified as one of the 



