THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 49 



from tlie lawn. The best sorfca for frame-culture are Blue Goiuii for 

 beauty, and Masters' Prolific and Telegraph for usefulness. Cucum- 

 bers may be most successfully cultivated without artificial heat from 

 May to October in any of the houses and pits usually devoted during 

 the winter season to bedding plants. 



Capsicums AjStd Chiiies. — The pungent little fruits of these 

 are so u.seful in the kitchen that a few plants should be grown in the 

 smallest garden. They require a comparatively long season of 

 growth to enable them to ripen their pods ; therefore, sow in heat 

 about the middle of February, and when the young plants are about 

 two inches high, pot them oif, use small sixties, and put two plants 

 in each ; shift, when established, into five-inch pots, and then transfer 

 to two sizes larger. Use a rather light and rich soil, place in warm 

 position in the greenhouse and supply liberally with water. A 

 portion of the stock may be planted early in June at the foot of a 

 south wall, for the production of a supply of green pods for pickling. 

 The Small Cayenne^ and Ziong Red Chiiies, and the Long Med and 

 Long Yellow Capsicums are the most useful kinds. 



Lettuce. — Although the finest crops are obtained from well- 

 manured soil, it is proper to add that Lettuces of excellent quality 

 may be obtained from ordinary good soils, to which manure has not 

 been applied for several years. They will, however, well repay good 

 cultivation, and should, as far as practicable, be planted in soil that 

 has been recently manured, or is in good heart from the manure 

 applied for the previous crop. To produce a successional supply, 

 extending over the year, sow in boxes, and place in heat in February 

 and March ; from the middle of the last-mentioned month until the 

 end of July, sow out of doors at interv^als of three weeks, and again 

 in the middle of August and September. The plantO'aised in boxes 

 must be pricked off in a bed made up in a frame to strengthen 

 previous to planting out. The plants raised in beds out of doors 

 should be planted direct. From April to July the best crops will 

 be obtained by sowing thinly in rows in the open quarters, and then 

 thinning them out to the proper distance apart. The thinnings 

 may be planted out if needful, but as plants that have not been dis- 

 turbed stand the hot weather so much better than those which have 

 been transplanted, make a point of sowing sufficient seed to render 

 transplanting unnecessary. Theplants fromtbe two last sowingsshould 

 be put in frames, underhand-glasses, or at the footof south walls. On 

 dry soils lettuces will live through the winter without the protection 

 of glass, provided the winter is not severe ; but, as a matter of pre- 

 caution, a one or two-light frame should be filled with small plants 

 to put out on warm borders in the spring, to furnish the earliest 

 supply. The distance at which lettuces should be planted will 

 depend upon the kinds, and the season of the year. The small 

 cabbage varieties should be six inches apart, and the large growing 

 cabbage and cos varieties a foot apart each way. A space of six 

 inches each way will suffice for any of the sorts planted early to 

 draw rather young. The best sorts for general purposes are for 

 early spring sowing, Hicks's Ilardi/ White Cos and Lcydcn White 

 Dutch Oahbaije ; for sowing out of doors from March to July, Faris 



Februaiy. 4 



