192 LETTUCE. 



white, close, firm heads, when in perfection ; the varieties 

 reach maturity from June till September. Meanwhile, they 

 are occasionally used in young, open growth. In a very 

 young state, the cabbage-lettuces have a milder, more agree- 

 able taste than the Cos; but when both classes are full 

 grown, the flavour of the Cos is preferred for salads, while 

 the cabbage kinds are more used for soups. 



Propagation. From seed, of which, for a seed-bed four feet 

 '.vide by ten feet in length, a quarter of an ounce is sumcient, 

 and will produce upwards of four hundred plants. 



Soil and situation. " All the sorts grow freely on any 

 rich, mellow soil, where the sub-soil is dry. For the most 

 part, raise this vegetable as a principal crop, on beds set 

 apart for it, and keep the varieties separate ; but to multi- 

 ply the supplies throughout summer, portions may be sown, 

 thinly intermixed with principal crops of leeks, onions, car- 

 rots, and spinnage, which will come off before the lettuces 

 are full grown; also with any young perennials, which 

 stand at wide intervals." 



Times of sowing. To obtain a constant supply of good 

 lettuce, it is serviceable to sow every month, from February 

 (or the opening of spring) to July, for the main summer 

 and autumn crops. For late autumn crops, you may sow 

 n August, and if you have hot-beds, frames, &c. you may 

 sow in September, and so on, through the fall and winter. 

 Early spring lettuce may be sowed so late in the fall as not 

 to come up till spring. 



Process of sowing. Abercrombie says, " The ground 

 should have been broken in the previous digging. Sow 

 oroad-cast, moderately thin; rake in lightly, and very even." 

 Others direct to sow in drills, from a foot to sixteen inches 

 apart. Armstrong observes, that " the straight-leafed sort 

 is best cultivated in broad-cast, and does not require trans- 

 planting ; but that the curled and head-lettuce cannot suc- 

 ceed without it." 



Management of the summer crop. " In the successive 

 crops, raised from the opening of spring till the close of 

 summer, when the plants reach about two, three, or four 

 inches' growth, they sr ould be thinned ; of those removed, 

 let a requisite number be planted out, from a foot to fifteen 

 inches asunder, to remain for cabbaging. Such as continue 

 in the seed-beds may be either gathered thinningly, in pro- 

 gressive stages, till the final reserve advance in close-head- 

 ing ; or, as they increase in size, be planted out at the 

 square distance mentioned above, especially those designed 



