RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Culture of Head Lettuce 
In developing? a backyai:^ garden for 
table vegetables I have repeatedly tried 
to X’aise lettuce to the condition I find in 
the market stands and stores, but with 
success only in its first stage. I can de¬ 
posit the seed and obtain a very promis¬ 
ing plant, but after transplanting they 
invariably “run to seed.” I have ob¬ 
tained large, luscious leave.s, but my de¬ 
sire to procure a “head” has never been 
gratified. It does not seem to be the soil, 
but some technical knowledge. Could you 
supply me with this desired information? 
Orange, N. J. \v. II. M. 
You probably have been .sowing varie¬ 
ties that do not make compact heads, of 
which there are several. The non-head¬ 
ing sorts are very extensively grown for 
Summer use; they are also forced in the 
greenhouse quite extensively in Winter. 
In appearance the matured i)lants are ^ 
very attractive, and most of the sorts are! 
of excellent qua^t-jr, being cris]). tender 
and sweet. There is no reason why head 
sorts should not produce good heads for 
you, provided your ground is rich, and 
good cultivation be given them. I.ettuce, 
like most vegetables, enjoy frequent tick¬ 
ling about their roots, and quickly re¬ 
spond to such treatment. I would sug¬ 
gest that you get seed of some well- 
known head sort, such as May King. New 
York or Big Boston, or better still, get 
.seed of all three, select a piece of ground 
that has been well enriched with old 
rotted manure, spade it deeply, and i-ake 
it fine, so as to make a good seed bed, 
then .sow a short row or two of each sort 
where they are to stand, sowing the seed 
quite thinly, covering them about one- 
eighth inch deep. When the small plants 
have made their second pair of true 
leaves, thin them so that the May King 
will stand five to six inches apart, the 
New York eight to 10 inches apart, and 
the Big Boston eight inches apart in the 
row. Tx)osen the soil around ami be¬ 
tween the plants left, and cultivate every 
week until they have nearly matured. 
The plants removed from the rows in the 
process of thinning may be transplanted 
in another place, and will come on some¬ 
what later than those left undisturbed in 
the .seed rows. K. 
Quantity of Potato Seed 
Would you advise me whether it is con¬ 
sidered better to i>ut two pieces of .seed 
potatoes in the hill or only one piece, 
when the crop is planted in hills three 
feet apart both ways? J. B. 
One fair-sized piece with two go<»d eyes 
is better than two pieces. With too 
much seed there will be many vines, and 
a large number of small potatoes. One 
good, strong plant is better than several 
plants crowded into one hill. 
Transplanting Alfalfa 
i have been interested in the subject of 
transplanting Alfalfa, not because I am 
in the busines.s, but from an experiment 
which I had with it in a small way. 
Three years ago I had sent me by a seed 
dealer, together with other packets of 
samples, a packet of Alfalfa seed. Along 
in August, after the sweet corn had ma¬ 
tured, I i)ulled up a few hills of the 
stalks, leveled the ground and drilled in a 
coui)!e of short rows of the Alfalfa seed. 
It came up well. September and October 
W('re almost rainless, but the plants 
reached a growth of 15 or 18 inches. The 
following Spring, when about to plow the 
garden, it being in the way, I took up 
<iuite a few plants and transplanted them 
in an out-of-the-way plac*e, wondering 
what they would do. Kvery plant grew, 
some of them reaching a height of four 
feet. The next Spring all was i)lowed un¬ 
der. but one plant pei’sisted in coming up 
again. I let it grow and was surprised to 
.see it send up more than one hundred 
culms, many of them reaching feet. 
One day I laid them down, forming a 
circle measuring seven feet in diameter, 
and called one of my neighbors, who had 
grown Alfalfa, to see it. lie thought it 
simply wonderful. Our land is a gravel 
loam, and while Alfalfa had never grown 
on or near where it grew I found on the 
roots of the plants transplanted abiuidant 
nodules. This experiment convinced me 
that Alfalfa may be succe.ssfully trans¬ 
planted. J{. F. MACK, 
(’olumbia Co., N. Y'. 
Mice and Their Enemies 
I see George T. Powell, page .514. has 
had trouble with mice. I lawks, owls, 
crows, skunks, weasels, snakes and cats 
are the natural enemies of the field mice, 
yet in Pennsylvania we pay a bounty 
on weasels, and I see some of the .sjjort- 
ing men want to make us pay a license 
to keep a cat. Poor old tabby! Next 
they will want us to move out and give 
them our farms for a game preserve, it. 
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Please send me free literature on articles checked: 
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