906 



LETTUCE 



LEUC/ENA 



Ing. If the plants are large, tliej' may need to be sprinkled 

 immediately after setting the last time. No more water 

 is required until they begin to mature. Many think that 

 the crop requires constant watering, but that is wrong, 

 because the roots will not go down if the top is kept 

 constantly wet, and a better crop will be obtained if not 

 watered until it begins to mature or to head. 



The kind of Lettuce intended in the above remarks 

 is the head variety, called in many sections the Boston 

 Lettuce. This crop should be ready to begin to pnll in 

 six or seven weeks from time of last transi^lanting. 

 According to the previous statements, it has taken thir- 

 teen weeks from seed to produce a crop. This is start- 

 ing in September or October. Earlier than this the time 

 will be one or two weeks less. It is customary to pull 

 over the bed once and take out the best ones, and then 

 give the remainder a good wetting. In about one week 

 those left will be tit to pull clean. After the first trans- 

 planting to 4 inches, it is the surest way to smoke the 

 house three nights in succession, once the second week 

 and once the third week. This is done to keep the plants 

 free from disease or from the green-fiy or louse. If it is 

 desired to follow with a second crop of Lettuce on the same 

 bed, the plants must be ready for the second crop when 

 the first is taken otf, and thus lose no time of the house. 



In hotbeds much the same course is pursued as in the 

 house; sometimes one will succeed better than the other. 

 For midwinter the houses are the better, and for late 

 spring the beds. 



The best way of heating the beds is by the use of hot 

 stable manure placeii in the bottom of the bed, and 

 about 8 inches of loam on top. Ten inches of manure, 

 hot, will hold for two crops of Lettuce. The first crop 

 will need a little special fertilizer. The second crop 

 will require about 'A inches of stable manure prepared as 

 for the houses. The beds are prepared in the fall and 

 covered with coarse manure or hay until wanted. The 

 beds, after setting, are covered with straw mats or shut- 

 ters at night when the temperature is below freezing, 

 and ventilated by day when it is above G0°. 



The heat is supplied to the houses by steam and the tem- 

 perature controlled by ventilation. The proper temper- 

 ature for the growing crop is 40° at night and 70° by day. 



For continuous crops through the season, sow every 

 week enough seed to give the plants required. One 

 ounce should produce 5,000 plants. This sowing is con- 

 tinued until February!, which is the time to sow the seed 

 for the crop to he set out in the field. These plants are 

 grown in hotbeds and hardened off before they are set 

 out ; that is, they are transplanted from seed-bed to 4 

 inches apart in hotbeds, and are then taken up and 

 transplanted to the field. This is a very different variety 

 of Lettuce. It will not head in the houses, while the 

 variety grown in the houses will not grow in the field. 



A great im]irovement has been made in the varieties 

 of Lettuce. The variety grown twenty years ago called 

 White Seed Tennisball was a very fine Lettuce and 

 would pack (1 dozen to the barrel-box or 10 dozen to the 

 barrel, but the improved variety of to-day will fill 3 

 dozen to the barrel-box and d to dozen to the barrel. 

 The new variety is called the New Hothouse Lettuce, 

 and will grow in beds just as well as in the house. 



Experiments made with the electric light have been 

 very successful. It not only hastens the time of grow- 

 ing, but also improves the size and quality of the head. 

 The writer estimates that the light increases the size 

 and quality 10 per cent and hastens the time of growth 

 15 per cent. This is by the use of arc lij^hts over the 

 houses by night. This could not be practiced on hot- 

 beds, because they are covered by nii^ht. Between the 

 first of November and tlie first of March the days are 

 very short and tlie nights very lonjj:, s(t th:it the electric 

 light increases the length of the day, and when applied 

 it has the same effect as the longer days of spring have 

 upon the growth of crops. 



The Lettuce, wdien prepared for market, is pulled, 

 then washed, and for the Boston market is put in boxes 

 of 3 dozen each and sold at wholesale b}'- the box. The 

 smaller heads are packed 4 dozen in each box and are 

 usually sold per box for about one-half the 3-dozen size. 

 When packing for other markets, as New York, Phila- 

 delphia, Washington or Chicago, it is panked in cjisi^s 

 Lhat will hold a barrel. These cases have a partition in 



the center, so that the Lettuce when packed will not 

 all fall to one end should the cases be roughly handled. 

 The expense of sending a case from Boston to New 

 York is 25 cts., to Philadelphia 50 cts., and to Chicago 

 75 cts. 



The crop from the South has affected our sales very 

 much in the midwinter, but the climate seems to have 

 changed in that locality so that it is in our favor, for of 

 late years they have cold weather there two or three 

 times each season, thus giving us the market. Our 

 Lettuce is far superior to theirs and of a different 

 variety. They have named theirs the Big Boston. It 

 will be seen that the name of Boston is very popular in 

 the Lettuce market. This inferior Lettuce conjing from 

 the South is packed in baskets. 



There is a disease of Lettuce called by some a "burn," 

 but this is a misnomer. It is a disease coming more 

 from a diseased root or a cold soil, because it develops 

 most when there is but very little sun, and least when 

 there is most sun; and if the plant is examined there 

 will he found a diseased root. Here the benefit of the 

 new or sterilized soil is very apparent. The use of steril- 

 ized soil is of much more benefit than the electiic light, 

 because if the plant is diseased no light will cure it and 

 no crop can be successful with diseased plants. Prepar- 

 ing the soil by wetting thoroughly before transplanting 

 is one of the great secrets in successful growing of Let- 

 tuce, and heating the water to a high temperature is also 

 very beneficial. It lessens disease. 



The price at which Lettuce can be grown at a profit 

 is a question very difficult to answer, but by the figures 

 made by some of the members of the Boston Market- 

 Gardeners' Association it was decided that for mid- 

 winter crop the Lettuce must be sold at 50 cts. per dozen 

 to return any profit to the grower. \i^\ -y\7_ r^wson 



LEUCADENDRON (Greek, white tree). Protedcem. 

 This genus includes the celebrated Silver Tree of the 

 Cape of Good Hope (see Fig. 1268), which has a striking 

 and unique habit. Its Ivs. 

 are densely covered wdth 

 white silky hairs. This 

 tree grows wild only on 

 Table Mountain. In the 

 first quarter of the cen- 

 tury it was considered of 

 great importance for fire- 

 wood. It is said to grow 

 poorly away from the 

 Cape, except in S. Calif., 

 where it generally does 

 well outdoors. It is also 

 rarely cult, in the East in 

 tubs, being protected in a 

 cool greenhouse during 

 winter and placed on the 

 lawn in summer, The Sil- 

 ver Tree attains 30 ft. at 

 the Cape. The trees are 

 practically male and fe- 

 male, the lis. being di- 

 rrcious by abortion. 

 The female tree is cult., 

 being prop, by seeds im- 

 ported from the Cape. The 

 young seedlings are very 

 difficult to raise. There is no monograph of this genus 

 since Meisner's in DC. Prod. V(d. 14, 1850, but the genus 

 will lie reviewed in a forthcoming volume of Flora 

 Capensis. 



arg^nteum, R.Br. Fig. 12G8. Branches densely leafy: 

 Ivs. sessile, 3-0 in. lon^', }4-l in. wide, callous and black- 

 ish at the apex, lanceolate, acute, silvery white and silky: 

 involucres spreading, l(>ni,M>r than the globular head of 

 fis. : nut ventricose. turgid, wingless, the whole style and 

 calyx persisting with it,"obovate. B.R. 12:970. V".5:282, 

 2s:i. 



126S. 



Silver tree, Leucaden- 

 dron argenteum. 



LEUCaiNA (probably from Greek, teuJ.-os, white; re- 

 ferring to the Hs.). Lfffinniudsrr', This includes a tree 

 known in 8. Fla. as the White Popinac, a rapid grower, 

 with acai'ia-likc foliage and whitish lis. It is also cult, 

 in y. Calif, The genus has about 9 species, found in 



