The Portland daily press., 1899-03-09
LETTUCE CULTIVATION.


Formerly the cultivation of choice
lettuce was confined to private gardens
Of small area, but now hundreds oil
acres planted with the most highly I'M
proved varieties receive as intensive
culture as is given to any other horti-
cultural crop Probably nowhere else
in this country is lettuce grown more
systematically or better than In hnoue
Island. 1t is upon the large vegetable
farms that this work has reached It's
highest development. according to Pro-
fessor L. F. Kinney Of the experiment
station of the state In view OF these
facts. particular value is attached to
Professor Kinney's advice on lettuce
cultivation given in the last annual re-
port Of the station, from which brief
extracts are here made
Lettuce plants occasionally survive
the winter in Rhode Island without
protection. 1t is noticeable that the
names of inferior kinds of lettuce,
which were formerly grown in this
country and are still largely grown in
Europe, mainly on account of their
hardness have now nearly disappeared
from the catalogues issued by American
seedsmen. The Brown Dutch is about
the only exception Plants of the more
highly developed kinds, which are rep
resented by the black seeded Tennis
Ball. Iceberg Prize Head, etc, when
started under glass in March and set in
the field when freezing weather is
mainly over in the spring mature earlier
and yield better product than plants
that are started in the fall and wintered
out of doors. Hardness, or at least abll-
ity to endure extreme cold weather, is
no longer regarded as an important at
tribute of variety Of lettuce in New
England The quality of outdoor let
tuce is extremely variable and deter
mined largely by the preparation OF the
soil. which must be made very rich 10
produce first class heads, or crisp and
blanched leaves on the nonheading va
rieties There is not a kind of lettuce
among many varieties cultivated capa-
bic of producing superior product on
a poor soil
Lettuce also thrives better in the cool
spring and fall weather than during the
summer months. Successive paintings
of the seed are made from the LIST OF
Nav until July The heads are in con-
dition for cutting in from IL to IA
weeks after the seed is planted. but the
heading varieties do not remain in this
condition more than one or two weeks
before the blossom stalks start
In quality the black seeded Tennis
Ball is still the standard of excellence
1t is extensively grown in market gar
dens. The Early Curled Silesian. or
Simpson. is popular nonheading kind,
but is grown mainly for private use.
The Iceberg, New York, Hanson and
Deacon, all heading varieties, are grown
on small scale both for private use
and for market. The merits of the Cos
lettuce are not yet generally recog-
nized. This kind seems to require even
richer soil than the black seeded Tennis
Ball to form good heads. When the soil
is properly prepared, the heads are very
large and firm, and the leaves are white,
crisp and free from bitterness. The
Paris White Cos is the standard variety
of this class The Trianon Cos and the
Paris Self Folding Cos are slightly mod
flied forms of tue above. but are scarce
ly distinguishable either from it or from
each other In order to insure firmness
of the heads it is customary to tie the
leaves of the Cos lettuce together one
or two weeks before the heads mature.
This operation is not always necessary.
The ordinary garden fertilizers are
adapted for the production of lettuce,
but two or three times as much of them
should be applied as is necessary for
the growth of beets. cabbages and most
garden vegetables.