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HEAD LETTUCE 



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'7/ i/<m /lave an old greenhouse/' says this writer, "a greenhouse 

 that apparently has reached its limit of usefulness for growing flowers and 

 seems to he due for the junk heap, renew its lease of life, as I did with one 

 of mine, hy grouping head lettuce in it." 



ETTUCE, especially green- 

 house lettuce, always com- 

 mands a good price in 

 the winter market, but 

 it is well to arrange the 

 planting of the seeds so 

 as to bring the largest 

 proportion of the plants 

 to maturity at the proper 

 time to meet the greatest 

 demand, which is around Thanksgiving, 

 Christmas and the Lenten season. Seed 

 catalogues give the time required for 

 growing lettuce generally as six weeks, 

 but I find that better results are ob- 

 tained by allowing my plants ten weeks 

 from the planting of the seeds until the 

 cutting of the heads. In this way no 

 hard forcing is used and the plants are 

 stronger. 



Sowing the Seed. 



So, to harvest a crop of lettuce at 

 Thanksgiving, it is well to plant the 

 seed about the middle of September. 

 For this purpose use shallow flats 

 filled with light, rich compost, con- 

 sisting of one- fourth manure and three- 

 fourths soil, sifted through a coarse 

 sieve. Before putting the seeds in, try 

 to have the soil evenly moist; not soft 

 and pasty, but at the point where it 

 can be handled without caking or leav- 

 ing mud on the hands. By setting the 

 flats in the ground so 

 that the tops of them 

 are even with the sur- 

 face, you can keep a 

 better degree of mois- 

 tur«f at the bottom of 

 the flats, which is de- 

 sirable. Sow the let- 

 tuce seed as thinly as 

 possible, in drills two 

 inches apart the nar- 

 row way of the flats. 

 Press them firmly with 

 your hand before cov- 

 ering lightly with soil. 



In September the 

 seed flats may be left 

 outdoors if given a 

 little shade during the 

 hottest part of the day 

 and some protection 

 from sudden frosts at 

 night. A canvas 

 stretched on a frame 

 and placed at least 

 three feet above the 

 flats during the middle 

 of the day provides 

 sufficient shade, and 

 glass sashes laid over 

 the flats at night are 



protection enough in the early fall. 

 Water lightly each day, always early in 

 the morning. Give the flats plenty of 

 air, but protect them from rains. In 

 from five to eight days the seeds should 

 be sprouted. 



The First Transplanting. 



Make no attempt to thin or transplant 

 these young shoots until the third leaf 

 is formed; then transfer them to a space 

 in the greenhouse, setting the plants 2x2 

 inches apart. Have the soil for this 

 about as rich as in the flats, but in 

 this case it need not be sifted, only 

 raked carefully. 



These little plants must be handled 

 carefully and the roots must be dis- 

 turbed as little as possible. Usually the 

 best way is to cut down each row of 

 plants in the flats with a thin-bladed 

 knife, lifting a part of the row of 

 plants with the earth on, separating 

 each one as you need it and using only 

 the best and strongest shoots. It does 

 not pay to transplant any thin, spindly 

 or poorly rooted ones. If you do this 

 on a sunshiny day, see that the roof 

 of the greenhouse is shaded with a 

 light mixture of lime and sand, with 

 water enough to make a thin coating 

 when thrown on the roof, or shade with 

 cheesecloth or newspapers, but be sure 

 these are several feet above the plants. 



Yellow Seed Butter Lettuce, an Excellent Market Variety. 



so as to allow a good circulation of air. 



As soon as the plants are well es- 

 tablished give them more sunlight, un- 

 less they show a tendency to grow 

 spindly, when they should be run at 

 a lower temperature. When they are 

 four or five inches high, transplant them 

 to the beds where they are to stay 

 until maturity. 



Set these eight inches each way, first 

 marking the beds evenly, so that the 

 plants will be in straight rows both 

 ways. Pack the soil rather firmly 

 around each plant and use the same 

 precaution as formerly in regard to 

 shading, until they are established. 



The First Firing. 



By this time it will probably be 

 necessary occasionally to have fire in 

 the greenhouse boiler, but great care 

 must be taken not to allow the tem- 

 perature to become too high. A tem- 

 perature of 50 to 60 degrees in the 

 daytime and 35 to 45 degrees at night 

 is desirable. I never force my lettuce 

 except when the heads have formed, 

 and then I do it carefully. Be sure that 

 your ventilators are up the first thing 

 in the morning, no matter what the 

 weather; regulate the distance they are 

 opened by the outside temperature. 



Give the plants water as they need it, 

 using a hose with a nozzle that will 

 permit the water to run 

 out freely between the 

 plants, letting as little 

 as possible touch the 

 plants themselves. Do 

 this always in the 

 morning, and never so 

 heavily that the water 

 will lie in puddles 

 around the plants. Cul- 

 tivate the soil by 

 means of any of the 

 small implements that 

 are provided for this 

 purpose, keeping the 

 ground well loosened 

 between the plants. An 

 application of manure 

 water now and then is 

 beneficial, with occa- 

 sional doses of nitrate 

 of soda or any com- 

 mercial fertilizer that 

 contains it, but apply 

 these in moderate 

 quantities only and mix 

 them thoroughly with 

 the soil. The nitrate of 

 soda will materially 

 help in the heading 

 process of the lettuce. 



