1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
These are the “ salad patches ” cultivated main¬ 
ly by German market gardeners; they range 
from two acres down to a quarter of an acre in 
area. It seems a wonder that the cultivation 
of such a small plot of earth should give the 
cultivator a living; but a living it does give, in 
nearly all cases, and some have quite a respec¬ 
table surplus for a “rainy day.” The manner 
of growing the lettuce forthefirst or early crop, 
is the same as that practised by the market 
gardeners of New Jersey or Long Island, name¬ 
ly, using plants from seed sown in fall, that have 
been wintered over under sashes, and planted 
out as early as the ground is fit to work, which 
in these warm noolcs (in most cases at the base 
of rocky elevations), is often as early as the first 
week in March. In some particularly favored 
spots the lettuce is planted out in the first week 
of October, and if it remains unscathed during 
winter, comes in, in such fine condition for mar¬ 
ket in May, as to well repay the risk. The va¬ 
riety used for this purpose is the “Brown 
Dutch.” In any section of the country where 
the thermometer never falls further than 10° 
above zero, lettuce sown the first week in Sep¬ 
tember and planted out the first week of October 
in sheltered spots in dry soils, will be almost 
certain to “winter over,” and give a crop in 
spring earlier than if treated by any other 
method. The wonder is that it is not more ex¬ 
tensively done at such points as Charleston and 
Savannah, where, as far as I can judge, there is 
nothing to hinder it from being had in a mar¬ 
ketable condition at any time, by ranging the 
sowings and plantings, from the middle of Feb¬ 
ruary to the middle of April. To return to the 
New York City growers; the varieties grown 
under glass and first planted out in spring, are 
usually the “Butter” and “Curled Silesia.” 
As soon as the crop is planted out, sowings are 
made for a succession; this time, of “Curled 
India” and “Butter,” the Silesia being unfitted 
for the warm weather at which this sowing 
would mature. The crop planted out in March 
matures by the end of May or first of June, and 
as soon as it is cut off, the ground is plowed or 
dug over, and the plants sown in March are 
planted. Another sowing is made for plants 
to succeed these again, and so on during the 
entire season, the rule being to sow seed at each 
time of planting. Four crops of lettuce are 
usually taken from June to October, or nearly 
a crop each month. The plants are set about 
a foot apart each way, and will average one cent 
per head, so that the four crops give a return 
of nearly $2,000 per acre. This seems like an 
immense return for an acre, but though the net 
profits are respectable, there are some serious 
disadvantages attending the cultivation. Few or 
none of these men are owners of the land, nor 
in hardly any instance have they a lease. They 
are tenants at will, and pay a yearly rental of, in 
some instances, $250 per acre. Many of your 
country readers may think that an extra cipher 
has been added to the amount, but they must 
recollect that the value of some of these “ salad 
patches,” as they are called, is $8,000 per city 
lot, or over $100,000 per acre; so that the paltry 
rental of $250 per acre hardly pays the interest 
of the amount of taxes. The following figures 
were given me by one of the best and largest 
growers, whose patch was two acres: 
Rent.$ 400. 
Manure. 250. 
Labor of 3 men for (i months. 750. 
Ilorse keep and incidentals. 450. 
§1,850. 
Four crops lettuce, estimated at.$4,000. 
Expenditures. 1,S50. 
Annual profits for 2 acres.$2,150. 
A pretty good profit, but deservedly earned, 
for to attain this result, the grower works early 
and late. It must not be supposed that 5 acres 
could be cultivated by one man with the above 
profit. The loss from inadequate hired labor, 
and the difficulties of selling large quantities of 
a quickly perishable crop, would be likely to 
make the attempt to increase largely the area 
cultivated a failure. Besides, lettuce is only 
used to a limited extent in the summer and fall 
months, and if grown in the quantities that it 
is in spring, could not be sold, yet in all large 
cities it is used more or less, at all seasons, and 
commands for limited quantities,usually a higher 
price than in spring, the season of its greatest 
consumption. No doubt the system of our 
New York City lettuce growers might be suc¬ 
cessfully and profitably followed in the neigh¬ 
borhood of many other cities and large towns. 
Starting’ a Yellow Locust Plantation. 
The first thing in starting a plantation of 
Locust trees is the selection of the site. Ex¬ 
perience suggests a rather dry gravelly or sandy 
loam. The trees would grow more rapidly on 
bottom lands or black, rich soils, but they would 
also be much more liable to the attacks of their 
enemy, the borer. Some years ago, the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company made extensive plan¬ 
tations on the waste land bordering their track. 
The locusts grew finely for the first two or three 
years, and then the borers attacked them with 
great fierceness, and now hardly a vestige of the 
great plantations remains. On the light lands 
of Long and Shelter Islands, the tree thrives 
wonderfully well. Its favorite localities are 
steep hill-sides and well-drained soils. It would 
be likely to do well on many old fields and worn 
out pastures, which are now unprofitable for 
grass. An additional inducement to plant such 
fields is the fact, that the tree is a renovator of 
the soil and friendly to the growth of the grasses. 
We recently saw a plantation upon a light sandy 
soil, once nearly worthless, where there was 
grass enough to have made two tons to the acre. 
The Treatment of the Seed and Seed-bed is a 
matter of great importance. The soil should 
be well prepared and made sufficiently rich 
with compost to grow good corn. Mark ofF the 
rows 3 feet apart and sow the seed, and cover 
them about the same depth as onion seed. The 
seed should be prepared by soaking in hot wa¬ 
ter. Pour 4 quarts of boiling water to a pound 
of seed, and let them stand in a warm room for 
twenty-four hours. If any of the seeds are 
not swollen, separate from the rest, and pour 
hot water upon them, and repeat the process of 
scalding and assorting until all the seeds are 
swelled. Keep the ground clean with cultivator 
and hoe the first year and subsequently; the 
seed will not all sprout the first year, but will 
keep coming for many years. Sprouts will start 
both from seed and from the roots for a dozen 
years or more. If the seed-bed or nursery is 
properly cared for, it will furnish any desired 
number of plants. A tree so easily propagated, 
and so valuable both for timber and as a reno¬ 
vator of the soil, ought to have the immediate 
attention of the owners of exhausted lands. 
There are thousands of acres in all the older 
States where this tree -would flourish. If it did 
not pay dividends to the present owners, it 
would at least be a safe investment for their 
heirs. Timber is all the while growing scarcer, 
and the next generation must have posts for 
their fences, and treenails for their ships at 
whatever cost. Connecticut. 
The Terraced Propagating- Pot. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
A few weeks ago I received from Benjamin 
W. Putnam, of Jamaica Plains, Mass., five dif¬ 
ferent styles of flower pots, which he calls “self¬ 
watering.” Among the patterns sent there is 
only one of special value, the Terraced Propa¬ 
gating Pot. As represented in figure 1, it has a 
base about 12 inches in diameter, with three 
terraces of 2 or 3 inches wide, the top one 
being about 4 inches in diameter. In the 
center is a reservoir for holding the water, this 
widens at the base, as shown in the section, fig. 
2. The water in 
the reservoir filters 
through v.lie sides of 
the pot, keeping the 
sand on the terraces 
always saturated. 
Cuttings of the 
young shoots of the 
great majority of 
plants placed in the 
sand, will root, td a 
certainty, in from 
two to four weeks. 
To such as have tried the “ saucer system ” 
of propagation (described in February, 18G4), 
the principle here will easily be understood, as 
it is only an ingenious modification of that, 
which has the advantage of doing away 
with the necessity of pouring water directly 
on the cuttings, as all that is needed to be 
done in this case is to keep the reservoir 
filled with water, and the sand will be kept 
in a uniform condition of moisture by r filtration. 
I know some practical gardeners may say that 
there is nothing new in this, as we have used 
the same principle, in a rough way, in propa¬ 
gating, for many years, 
by placing a smaller 
flower pot inside of a 
larger one, and keeping 
the inside one filled 
with water, and plant¬ 
ing the cuttings in sand 
in the space between the 
pots. That was an awk- 
Fig. 2.— section of pot. ward and clumsy con¬ 
trivance compared with Mr. Putnam’s design. 
In the one received by us about the middle of 
February, we placed cuttings of Roses, Gera¬ 
niums, Pelargoniums, Heliotropes, Fuchsias, 
Carnations', and Verbenas, filled the reservoir 
with water, and placed the pot exposed to the 
sun, in one of our green-houses where an aver¬ 
age temperature of 70 c is kept. In three weeks 
every cutting, without a single exception, was 
rooted, and the little propagating house, for so 
it may be called, had more attractions for our 
amateur visitors than any other thing in the es¬ 
tablishment. It must not be supposed that the 
atmosphere of a green-house is necessary to 
propagate with the terrace pot, it will do just 
as well placed in the window of the dwelling- 
house, where there is plenty of light and the 
necessary heat; all that is needed to observe for 
success is that the cuttings used are the young 
green shoots, and that the reservoir is full of 
water, so that the sand is kept thoroughly moist. 
Whenever the cuttings show roots, no matter 
how small they are, the}' should be taken from 
the propagating pot and placed in flower pots 
of two or three inches in diameter, and kept 
well watered and shaded from the sun for two 
or three days after potting. So convinced am 
I of the certainty of success from this mode of 
propagating that in cases of rare or valuable 
Fig. 1. —TERRACE ROT. 
