94 JOHNSON & STOKES 
ture is easy. The seed is cheap and it germinates quickly. 
Well-grown lettuce always commands good prices. It is 
usual to start the seeds in a border or under a frame, and to 
prick out the plants into more roomy quarters as soon as 
they are large enough to handle. In a few weeks after trans- 
planting, in good growing weather, they are headed ready 
for market. Good soil, abundance of moisture and free 
ventilation are essentials in lettuce production. 
In some parts of the North lettuce culture would be 
found profitable by farmers in the summer season, for there 
are varieties well adapted to high temperature, provided 
good soil and sufficient water be furnished. There is not a 
month in the year when lettuce is not demanded for use in 
salads, and this demand is likely to increase. 
MELONS. 
Melon culture belongs on the farm rather than in the 
small market garden, on account of the large space occupied 
by the growing vines. An acre of ground will accommodate 
only about 450 watermelon hills (at 10 feet each way) or 
about 1,200 muskmelon or cantaloupe hills (6 feet each way), 
and hence the necessity for large areas of ground for the 
cultivation of these crops. 
The requirements of the various melons are quite similar. 
Broken sod ground or any green crop turned down favors 
their growth, and well-rotted stable manure in the hill is the 
best known stimulant. All the melons are tender, and are 
suited only to warm-weather growth, and this fact must be 
remembered in sowing the seed. Light alluvial soil near 
rivers or streams is adapted to melon growth, and many an 
old meadow now weedy and unprofitable might be used to 
advantage for one of these crops. 
