143 



SALAD 

 CROPS 



At any time lettuce does best in a soil that is 

 loose and " warm," that is known to gardeners 

 as " quick." Heavy, clayey soils are not adapt- 

 ed to lettuce, so see that your soil is pulverized 

 and well fertilized before the seeds are sown. 

 It has been found to pay well to treat the soil 

 with nitrate of soda after the plants are set, 

 because of the more rapid growth. The soda 

 is applied dry, at the rate of two or three hundred 

 pounds to the acre, and then raked or tilled in. 

 Lettuce seed is sown thickly and the plants 

 thinned, as they become edible, to about a foot 

 apart. The thinnings make excellent " greens." 

 The rows are usually 8 to 12 inches apart. 



When grown as a succession-crop, lettuce 

 may be followed by cabbage, early cauliflower, 

 celery a,nd other things. Or, it may be grown 

 between the cabbages and cauliflower as a 

 companion-crop, since it matures before either, 

 and leaves the land to those plants when they 

 need all the space. Seed may be sown succes- 

 sionaUy until warm weather, and you may 

 count upon 1000 plants for each ounce of seed. 

 There are three well-known tribes : head lettuce, 

 cut or curly-leaved, and Cos, and a fourth 

 variety little known, called narrow-leaved let- 

 tuce. There are about 100 varieties. Field- 

 grown lettuce has few enemies. 



