PETER HENDERSON & CO.— INTRODUCTORY. 



A DOUBLE CROP— Cauliflower and Lettuce. 



In the vicinity of our large cities there are acres of glass devoted to the forcing or forwarding of lettuce, 

 radishes, etc. The principal crop, however, is lettuce, which is raised during the winter months, either in 

 the old-fashioned hotbeds, heated with stable manure, or else in the more recent greenhouses, heated by hot- 

 water pipes. But by far the largest quantity of early or forced lettuce is grown in the " cold frames," such 

 as are used for keeping the plants over 'winter. These are simply two boards set on edge, and placed parallel 

 to one another : the one at the back being about one foot in height, the front one about nine inches — the 

 distance apart being according to the length of the sash, which is usually six feet. These frames are always 

 placed in a position naturally sheltered from the northwest, or else a high board fence is built to shelter 

 them. The soil is pulverized and enriched in the best possible manner, and the lettuce is planted usually 

 ihere) about the first week in March, or nearly a month before operations can be begun in the open field. 

 When the ordinary size of sash (3x6 feet) is used, about fifty lettuce plants are set under each sash, or five 

 rows often plants in each, as shown in Fig. 1. But when a double crop of lettuce and cauliflower is grown 

 under the same sash, they are planted (as shown in Fig. 2) with three entire rows of lettuce, and three of the 

 lettuce plants in the other two rows replaced by cauliflower, the cross (X) showing where the cauliflower 



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1. — SASH OF LETTTCE. 



2. — LETTUCE AND CAULIFLOWER. 



plants are placed. Thus planted, each sash contains forty-four plants of lettuce, and six plants of cauli- 

 flower. .... Presuming that both are planted on March 1st, and protected in the usual way 

 with sash, the lettuce 'will be fit for use, and cut out by about May 1st, leaving the -whole space in the frame to 

 be occupied by the six plants of cauliflower, which, at th/s season, protected by the glass, will now grow so 

 rapidly, that it will be necessary to add to the frames another board in height, so as to give it head-room. 

 With proper attention to airing and watering, an excellent crop of cauliflower is almost certain by the end of 

 May, or .about three weeks sooner than it would mature out-doors, if it matured at all ; for all cultivators 

 know how precarious a crop cauliflower is when planted in the open ground in our hot, dry June weather. In 

 England the crop rarely fails, when planted in spring out-doors, for there they get very nearly the conditions 

 of temperature which we give when forwarded under glass in the way above described. . . The 

 advantage of this double crop is apparent. Only six plants of lettuce are lost by the presence of the cauli- 

 flower, while three weeks' longer use of the sash matures the cauliflower, which at that season readily sells in 

 New York at from S6.00 to $9.00 per dozen, and by averaging the lettuce at $5.00 per 100, a moderate estimate 

 for the double crop of lettuce and cauliflower per sash would be $5.00. The variety of lettuce used is the 

 Boston Market, and of cauliflower, the Early Erfurt. Though the new dwarf sort, known as early Snowball, 

 will probably, with its compact growth and short leaves, do even better. — Peter Henderson in American 

 Agriculturist. 



