84 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



will go on bearing, and submitting to my exac 

 tions, until the frost cuts it down. It is a game 

 that one would not undertake with a vegetable 

 of tone. 



The lettuce is to me a most interesting study. 

 Lettuce is like conversation : it must be fresh and 

 crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the 

 bitter in it. Lettuce, like most talkers, is, how 

 ever, apt to run rapidly to seed. Blessed is that 

 sort which comes to a head, and so remains, like 

 a few people I know ; growing more solid and 

 satisfactory and tender at the same time, and 

 whiter at the centre, and crisp in their maturity. 

 Lettuce, like conversation, requires a good deal 

 of oil, to avoid friction, and keep the com 

 pany smooth ; a pinch of attic salt ; a dash of 

 pepper ; a quantity of mustard and vinegar, by 

 all means, but so mixed that you will notice no 

 sharp contrasts ; and a trifle of sugar. You can 

 put anything, and the more things the better, into 



