l3/)e RURAL NEW-YORKER 
191 
The Home Acre 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
Kaui.v Mani'uino. —Onr truck far¬ 
mers arc using the bright January wcatli- 
er in preparing their land and running 
out the furrows for cantaloupes, cucum¬ 
bers and watcrinelons. They use XeAV 
York manure in the furrows, and as 
they can only buy this fivsh they like to 
get it into the furrows as early as pos¬ 
sible and let it lie to rot soim* before 
idanting time. With manure at .$.‘>.2.5 
a ton at the stations it is rather an ex¬ 
pensive fertilizer, but they do not seem 
to think that they can grow these crops 
witliout it, .aided by a Spring applica¬ 
tion of commercial fertilizer. I use only 
a good fertilizia- in the hills for melons, 
as my land is bi-oadcast with manure in 
the Ihill, and I i)refer not to have ,a mass 
of rough manure right under the |)lants 
to cut off the rise of the soil moisture. 
From the local st.ables a very modest 
cartload of manure costs me a dollar, but 
tops of the onions have been browned at 
the tips. w. K. MA.SSKY, 
Lettuce Culture in Wayne Co., N, Y. 
The lettuce tract shown at Fig. 07 is 
owned by l)r. I>. F. St. .Tolin and is but 
one of a large* numlx'i’ of muck plots in 
Waym* County devoted to the culture of 
lettuce, and in ia)tation to celery, onions 
and carrots. 'I'he general i)lan of the 
lettuce growers is to raise two crops in 
one sea.son, and this ciills foi' the com¬ 
mencement of cropping opei-ations as 
soon as the land is warm enough in the 
.Spring. A double harv<>st is jjossible if 
the cro]! is started in e.arly May. The 
land is fitted in the ordinary way. In 
thi.s section many growers seed .as heavi¬ 
ly as four to live ixmnds to the acre. 
While this is r.ather heavy it is held to 
h(' better juactice to thin out as lus'ded, 
and thus have .a uniform growth wilh 
all the aia'a i)roducin,'< its average of 
A Tract of Lettuce in Wayne Co., N. Y. Fig. 67 
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The Barnes Brothers Nursery Company 
Box 8 Yalesville, Conn. 
on my gai'dcu I mu.st have it, bccau.'<e I 
have no room for the growing of green 
crops to turn under, and mu.st have the 
hiimiis-making organic miilter. Our 
homemade manure is very rough stuff, 
for they feed tlie corn stover, aiul it is 
full of big stalks. These I have to rake 
oir and put iu iny compo.st he.ni) in 
Spring after they have leached during 
the Winter, and linally T g-d; them rot- 
tc<l down. 
Wi.NTEU Citoj’.s.—The early Winter 
«Top of lettuce i.s finished, and the frame.s 
are being planted to i’rizefaker onion 
seed for transplanting, beets, radisiies, 
])arsh*y and .Succes.sion caiihagt* idaiits. 
In fact I shall haw* Succession as the 
earliest, for all the Fall-sown cabbage 
jilants were killed hero, and at Norfolk 
and in North Carolina in November, by 
the sudden freeze Avhen in a tender state. 
I am .sowing the Copenhagen Market 
cabbage, and though not so early a.s the 
Farly Jersey Wakefield it makes larger 
heads. It was rath(>r strange that the 
cabbage plants were killed while lettuce 
plants not 10 feet away in another bed 
an* still living all right here tlie last 
week in .Tanuary, and will now lx* set in 
frames for early lieading. One three- 
sash frame will he sown in Hanson let¬ 
tuce now for e.irly Spring transplanting 
outside. This frame, which has grown 
a crop of lettuce, will simply lx* mov(*il 
to fresh soil for sowing the seed, a.s I 
wish to avoid danger of di.sease. 'I'lie 
llig l.oston lettuci* has had its turn in 
tlx* frames, hut I never grow it for 
Spring setting, for it runs to seed too 
rapidly as the weather gets warm. I 
find that the Ilan.son and the Wonder¬ 
ful f>r New York are the best for Sjiring 
s(‘tting. 
flRKK.MLOUSE .Soil..—Soil ft)!* the flats 
in the greenhouse is in out of the way 
of frost, and next week the early tomato 
seed and early p(*i)per.s will he sown, and 
Spring work will begin in e.irnest a.s the 
sun climbs higher. It is som(*thing of 
u misfortune that we have so litth* snow 
here, for the con.stant freezing at night 
and thawing out in day time with soil 
uncovered, d(x*s more damage than hard 
fr(*ezing weather on a snow-co\’ered soil. 
I’.iit the spinach does not se(*m to have 
suffered, and the kale is strong, while the 
idants. Fertilizer re(|uirem(*nts, of 
course, vary with conditions. I’romiii- 
ent growers h(*n* use a four per cent, 
nitrogen and It) ix*r cent, phosiihoric 
acid fertilizer. ai)pli<*d at rati* of I,.5(K) 
to 1,800 pounds to the acre. 
(1 rowers getting in on the .soil early 
and in favon*d locations make their first 
<uttings in .Tune, a most favoralile time 
to hit the mark(*t, esiiecially for tliose 
who arrive first. Quotations then have 
been known to range around $2 and 
.$2..50 p<*r crati* to tin* grower. The st*c- 
ond crop can usually he start(*d about 
the fir.st of July, tlie earlier the hotter in 
escaping first frosts, though often a later 
croj) that comes through fortunately Avill 
command a much better jirice. Perhaps 
there is 110 farm or truck commodity 
suliject to such (*xc(*.ssive lluctuation in 
market value as h*ttnce. In times of 
scarcity in tin* large cities the quotations 
top so liigh as to seem out of jiroiiortion 
to the true value and witli a filling of the 
market prices tumlile so that often the 
smaller ship|x*rs do not realize any ])rofit 
on their forwardings. 
'Tlie crop is shiiiped in crates of .si*- 
lected heads, 21 to the box, and in ham- 
ix*r.s of from 28 to .51 heads, according 
to size. Formerly only hamp(*rs were 
shipped from the \Yayne County district 
l)c( ( f 1 ji(c yi'iirs tlie box or crate lias 
come into more gen(*ral use. A fair av¬ 
erage to the acre would he from I.OdO to 
1..5()<) crates, according to tlie .s(*ason. 
Last .si'a.son jiriccs ranged from 75 cents 
to .$2 per crate to the grower. T'nlike 
most crops the li(*ld is not harvested in 
one eflort, hilt cuttings are made of such 
heads jiromiscuoiisly, though with careful 
search, a.s have reached standard .size. 
In tills way crates can he filled witii 
clioice heads and usually the market re¬ 
turns will warrant this care in packing. 
The work is ch*an. and often om* will 
find a large* force of women engageel at 
it in this st*ctioii. A nailer follows the 
jiackers allix'v.ig the lids in the fi<*ld and 
tin* crates ar’^ taken direct to the stor¬ 
age or car. 
In seasons of shortaV^"»ah*s are made 
almost from tin* field am^at other times 
tin* crop is placi*<I in limit(*d .storage, 
waiting tin* market. l.t'ttiice growing 
(Continued on page lO.'t) 
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