The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-07-13
this class are several new introductions
of decided merit.-CroRpie in N: 2.
Tribune.


Raising Lettuce.
Among the common salads there is
none in such general demand for the ia
BILE as lettuce. I tisan easy grower, and
yet it needs for its best development a
good soil and careful culture. Lettuce
is too often treated as a subsidiary crop,
and is sown too thickly in seed beds and
grown too thickly together. The let
tuce bed should always, where possible,
be set apart from the rest of the garden
in some way so that it may be cultivated
freely without disturbing other vcgcta-
bles. Not only should the soil be mel
low, deep and highly enriched with ma
nure, but it should have full exposure to
the air, with perfect draining. In the
opinion of Mr.. William Farley, up au-
thority on the kitchen garden, those
who would secure a fine growth of let
tuce should give their chief attention to
its culture in the early summer or in the
autumn months. The heat and aridity
of moderately dry summers too generally
hurry its growth into Towering and the
seed FORM To secure the autumn crop
a sowing should be made during the Sec
ond or third week in July, choosing
cloudy or rainy weather, if possible. For
main crop the seed is usually sown by
market gardeners in the open ground
about the middle of September, and
transplanted to cold frames as soon as
large enough to handle, being wintcred
over in the same manner as early cab
bage. Plants have been known to come
out in the spring perfectly fresh from
seed sown in the open ground in the mid
die of September. Lettuce is a plant of
comparatively tender growth, and unless
care is taken to promptly destroy all
weeds, it may be quickly choked up so
as to be worthless. The kinds best to use
arc those known as black seeded Simpson
and salamander; the one is a curlcd
leaf variety, the other is plain or smooth
leaved, and forms a solid head.
Sunflower Culture.
W. I. Cook, of CASTLE, N. Y, writes
as follows to the Cutioator: I desire to
call the attention of your readers to the
value of sunfowcrs to every cultivator of
the soil, especially to poultrymen. Con-
sidering its value, the sunfowcr is the
most neglected plant in this country.
It is a plant that will thrive almost any
where, and on any soil that will produce
beans. After a long and successful ex-
perience in its culture, I am satisfied
that the sunflower is q most useful plant
and may be utilized in several ways. As
a food for fowls, it has no superior or
even equal, adding great brilliancy to
the plumage and promoting ;vigor and
health. For feeding live stock also it
will produce very satisfactory fes9ftaA
This plant is of great value in purify
ing the air in localities where malaria
abounds. It is entirely exempt from the
attacks of noXious insects. When
thoroughly aried the stalks make the
best and cheapest kindling wood in such
districts as Kansas, Nebraska and
Dakota, where fuel is scarce and dear.
In some sections in the above State sun
flowers are grown by the acre for the
purposes of fuel. In Europe, especially
in Russia, the manufacture of oil from
sun1ower seeds is a leading industry.
The culture of the sunlower is the
same as that of corn, except the plants
should be 1 10 feet apart in the row.
No plant will respond to thorough cult
walton with greater profit than the sun
flower. 1t natures in this latitude in
seventy-fve to eighty-6vc days. grow
the Mammoth Russian variety, and con-
slider it the most hardy productive and
profitable, at the same time the earliest
to mature. The variety originated in
central Russia, and was introduced into
this country eight years ago by the Rus
sian Mennonites. This variety has stalks
6 to 8 10 feet in height and one to two
inches in diameter, with heads as large in
diameter as q WATERFALL. Some speci-
mems grow even larger, with large gray
seeds, providing they are thoroughly
cultivated.
Household Hints.
Do not let coffee and tea stand in tin.
All the mending should be done once