LETTUCE. CELERY 105 



Boston Market, Iceberg, Hanson, etc., are good head 

 or "cabbage" kinds, but do not mature quite so 

 quickly. 



Marketing lettuce : My experience tells me that 

 lettuce with a blanched heart sells best in most mar- 

 kets, and is in more or less demand all the year 

 around. Lettuce in the field is cut off close to the 

 ground and taken to the packing house, where the 

 untidy outer leaves are taken off. A favorite pack- 

 age for lettuce in Maryland, etc., is the round, 



veneer basket with a cover 



(the cover is not shown in 

 illustration). Ventilated bar- 

 rels, crates, etc., are used in 

 some localities. Lettuce for 

 shipment should be quite dry 

 when packed. Lettuce for a A BASKET OF MARYLAND 

 near-by fancy trade is some- HEAD ^C^ED^^ 

 times grown in two-inch pots, 

 and marketed in that way thus insuring freshness. 



Insects and diseases : Out-of-doors the lettuce 

 crop is seldom troubled by bugs or fungi. Cutworms 

 sometimes bother (see Chapter XI). Under glass 

 "damping off" (sometimes called "drop" or "wilt") 

 is a common trouble (see Chapter II). Stem and 

 leaf rot may usually be prevented, where prevalent, 

 by covering the greenhouse or hotbed soil with two 

 inches of sand which has been sterilized by being 

 treated with boiling water. Half-strength Bordeaux 

 mixture might be sprayed on the plants when they 

 are little, as a preventive. 



CELERY. For ordinary home use celery can be 

 grown on almost any kind of rich garden soil, but 

 for the best market success deep alluvial or re- 

 claimed swamp ground is the kind to choose. At 



