BOOK OF THE HOME GARDEN 



ter whether they are large enough to eat. After 

 gathering a few you will be able to tell very easily 

 when they are the right size. 



Next comes the lettuce. You remember I told 

 you that our lettuce plants should be allowed plenty 

 of room so they can make good big heads ; therefore, 

 we will begin thinning when the plants are three 

 inches high. Take a stick 10 inches long and 

 measure from the edge of the bed along the lettuce 

 row, stick a burnt match into the ground at 

 each end of the stick, then move it along so one 

 end touches the last match, put another burnt match 

 stick into the ground at the opposite end and so on 

 until there is a match stick every ten inches in the 

 lettuce row. The lettuce plant by each match stick 

 is the one we are going to leave. 



Now very carefully pull out all the other plants 

 near these marked ones ; when you have a nice dish 

 of salad do not pull any more that day, but next 

 day thin again and so on every day until no lettuce 

 plants stand between those marked. You remember 

 we eat the leaves of this plant so we must keep them 

 growing rapidly that they shall not become tough. 

 Cultivate (that means to stir the ground) around 

 them every day and give them water if you should 

 have a spell of dry weather. If you have good seed 



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