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 



