In some parts of the North lettuce culture would be found profitable by farmers in the summer season, for there are varieties well adapted to high temperature, provided good soil and sufficient water be furnished. There is not a month in the year when lettuce is not demanded for use in salads, and this demand is likely to increase.
Lettuce.—For the South, we especially recommend Reichner's Early White Butter, Big Boston and New Treasure; for the North, New Sensation, Mammoth Salamander and Hornberger's Dutch Butter. Please see "Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual."
MELONS.
Melon culture belongs on the farm rather than in the small market garden, on account of the large space occupied by the growing vines. An acre of ground will accommodate only about 450 watermelon hills (at 10 feet each way) or about 1,200 muskmelon or cantaloupe hills (6 feet each way), and hence the necessity for large areas of ground for the cultivation of these crops.
The requirements of the various melons are quite similar. Broken sod ground or any green crop turned down favors their growth, and well-rotted stable manure in the hill is the best known stimulant. All the melons are tender, and are suited only to warm-weather growth, and this fact must be remembered in sowing the seed. Light alluvial soil near rivers or streams is adapted to melon growth, and many an old meadow now weedy and unprofitable might be used to advantage for one of these crops.
New Black-eyed Susan Watermelon.