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New York AGricutrurRAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 477 
The sandy loam, Soil 8, gave earlier, slightly heavier and much 
better lettuce than the clay loam, Soil 7; but when manure was 
_added to each at the rate of 33 1-3 per cent quite different results 
followed, the clay loam and manure, Soil 10, yielding much earlier, 
healthier and heavier lettuce than the sandy loam and manure, 
Soil 9. In fact Soil 10 proved to be the best mixture which was 
tried with Crop IV, the lettuce which was grown on it being from 
3 to 18 days earlier, as well as heavier and better than that which 
was grown on the other soils. 
On comparing the records of the two soils which contained the 
sandy loam, namely Soils 8 and 9, it is seen that in firmness, texture 
and general appearance the crop on Soil 8 which had no stable 
manure, ranked far above that on Soil 9, one-third of which was 
-composed of stable manure. Moreover, it was practically free 
from tip-burn while the lettuce on Soil 9 suffered seriously from 
this trouble. The mixing of partly rotted manure with the very 
light sandy loam gave a soil so loose in texture that capillary action 
was too much interfered with to get the best results in plant growth. 
This is the only apparent explanation of the fact that Soil 9 did 
not grow as good lettuce as Soil 8 although it was much richer in 
plant food. 3 ; 
That the clay loam should give better results in forcing head 
lettuce than the sandy loam is especially significant, because in 
many instances commercial growers seem to prefer a sandy soil 
for forcing lettuce. Mr. F. L. Marsh, of the Michigan Fruit 
Grower, has very kindly furnished for publication here a statement 
of the way in which the forcing of lettuce* has become localized 
in a certain section of Grand Rapids, Michigan, because of the 
character of the soil which is found there. . He says, “ Lettuce 
growers at Grand Rapids are agreed that sand, light but fine, is 
the most suitable soil for culture of that plant. Its porosity seems 
; 4It should be remarked that the kind of lettuce grown at Grand Rapids is 
not a head lettuce but an earlier maturing loose lettuce known by the name 
“Grand Rapids,” while in the experiments at this Station only varieties of 
head lettuce were tried. 
