PLANTING LIST 345 



ful handling ; but any one can grow the loose heading lettuces fairly 

 well. 



Sow first under glass in March, in rows three inches apart, and 

 sow again every ten days in the frames. Thin to an inch apart in 

 the rows, and after % the fourth leaf transplant to six inches apart. 

 When the plants crowd take out and use every other plant, allowing 

 the remainder to grow to full size. Sow outdoors, best in a carefully 

 prepared seed bed, in April, and treat in much the same manner. 

 Or sow in rows about nine inches apart, thin lightly at first, and as 

 the plants grow, thin gradually to six inches, eating the thinnings. 

 This is the lazy way to grow lettuce, and the remaining plants will 

 never be so good as those which have never been crowded. 



If Cos lettuce does not naturally head well, the plants may be 

 tied with string or raffia until their hearts are well blanched. 



Lettuce has no diseases, and no serious enemy except the cut- 

 worm. Against him, when transplanting, provide the plants with 

 paper collars. 



Lilies : They are not of easy culture, and their bulbs are often ex- 

 pensive. They like warm, rich, and well-drained soil ; it is well to 

 mulch them to protect the roots from drying out. The soils should 

 be at least a foot deep, and the bulbs be covered at least three 

 times their own thickness ; the golden-banded lily should be planted 

 ten inches or more deep. No fresh manure should be used in the 

 soil, and it is well to set each bulb in a pocket of sand, to keep it 

 from rotting. Lilium candidum, the Madonna lily, should be set 

 in late summer ; the others may be set in early October, or in spring. 

 The tiger lily can be grown in any garden, coming up year after year. 

 Consult the seedsman for other lilies for your neighborhood. Get 

 none but plump and firm bulbs ; all others are weak. Every three 

 or four years reset lilies, dividing the clumps of bulbs, and setting 

 the little ones out where they will have a chance to grow large. 

 See also Chapter XXVIII. 



Lily-of-the-valley : A fine, modest, perennial plant, always popu- 

 lar, which in a good soil and partial shade will multiply rapidly. 

 Do not make the mistake of giving no sun at all. The pips must be 



