FORCING-PITS OR GREENHOUSES. 67 



method of watering. Now, 1886, we are fortunate enough 

 to have the city water, and can drench four acres of 

 plants grown under glass in ten hours. 



In these pits may be propagated and grown Eoses and 

 all kinds of greenhouse and bedding plants of every de- 

 scription, in the best possible manner. But as our pres- 

 ent purpose is only with vegetables, I will endeavor to 

 describe our mode of operations with some of these. 

 Lettuce, from the great quantities consumed in all large 

 cities, is now, and will be likely to be, one of the most 

 profitable vegetables to force, for the reason that from its 

 soft and bulky character it cannot be so safely or cheaply 

 shipped from the South as many other kinds of vege- 

 tables. We begin, for our first crop, by sowing the seed 

 about the 20th of August, in the open ground, of the 

 Boston Market, Black-Seeded Butter and Curled Simpson 

 sorts, using by far the greatest proportion of the first 

 named, as it forms a solid head quicker and can be 

 planted closer. These are planted on the benches of the 

 forcing-house in five or six weeks after, at about six or 

 eight inches apart each way, on well enriched soil, placed 

 on the benches to the depth of five or six inches. At 

 this season no " forcing" is required, and the sashes 

 should be kept raised to admit air, night and day, until 

 frosts begin to be severe ; then they should be shut up 

 at night, but no fire heat should be applied until the 

 weather has been severe enough to indicate thirty-eight 

 or forty degrees inside the pits, and even then very 

 slightly, for if they can be brought to maturity at this 

 season without the temperature exceeding fifty degrees 

 at night (by fire heat), the crop will be all the better. 

 The great thing in forcing all plants of this hardy nature 

 being to avoid a high temperature, the temperature 

 when steady firing is begun in the winter months, should 

 average fifty degrees as near as possible. 



Of late years, Lettuce plants, when grown under glass, 



