COMMERCIAL LETTUCE GROWING. 187 



scattered thinly in the drills, or they may be sown broad- 

 cast. They should be covered with about one-half inch 

 of soil, and the surface of the bed rolled, or pressed down 

 with a board. After giving the bed a thorough water- 

 ing, it should be covered with lath screens, and watered 

 whenever it shows signs of becoming dry. When the 

 plants have formed their first true leaves they should be 

 transplanted to about two by six inches, or, if in drills. 



FIG. 70. POT PLANT KEADY FOR PLACING IN PEBMA- 

 NENT BED. TENN. EXPERIMENT STATION. 



thinned to two inches in the row. These plants will be 

 ready to transplant to the beds about the 15th to the 

 20th of September, and all designed for the Thanksgiv- 

 ing trade should be in the beds by the first week in 

 October. If the Christmas market is preferred to 

 Thanksgiving, the seeds need not be sown until the mid- 

 dle of August, or a portion of the crop can be put in 

 early and the balance held for a succession. 



About the first of October, a second sowing should 

 be made, and another for the third crop about the first 



