662 SALADS. 



1. Cos lettuces, of which the best are the black-seeded green, a very 

 hardy kind, which does not run readily to seed ; the Bath Cos, which 

 is the best for standing the winter in the open ground ; the Brown 

 Cos, the White Paris Cos, Williams' Victoria, Moor Park, London 

 White, Alina, Carter's Giant White, Hardy Winter White, Snow's, and 

 Gem. 



2. Cabbage lettuces, the best of which are : the Brown Dutch, hardy 

 and of good quality ; the Hammersmith Hardy Green, the best for 

 standing through the winter ; the Marseilles, a large excellent summer 

 lettuce, the Malta, Dutch Forcing, Victoria, All the Year Round, 

 Koyal Albert, Tennis Ball, Large Versailles, William Robinson, Red- 

 Edged Victoria, and Covent Garden Long-Standard. 



Propagation and Culture. All the sorts are raised from seed, which 

 being small and light, for a seed-bed four feet by ten feet a quarter of 

 an ounce is sufficient, and will produce four hundred plants. It comes 

 up in ten days or a fortnight. To grow large succulent lettuces, it is 

 essential that the soil be deep, light, sandy, and rich, on a dry subsoil ; 

 and that it be abundantly supplied with water during the hot season. 

 In Spain, recent nightsoil is used as a manure for the lettuce, being 

 buried in a trench between every two rows of plants. To produce a 

 supply of lettuce throughout the year, the first sowings may be made 

 in the beginning of February, on a warm border, or on the south side 

 of an east-and-west ridge, either broadcast or in drills, and of the 

 kinds preferred by the family. Some persons dislike the cabbage- 

 lettuce from its softness, while others prefer it for that reason. As 

 soon as the plants have shown the third leaf, they should be thinned 

 with a two-inch hoe, so as not to stand nearer together than six inches ; 

 or in the case of the large-growing varieties, such as the Marseilles and 

 Malta, a foot. From this time to the beginning of August a sowing 

 may be made every fortnight or three weeks, choosing a north border, 

 or screening the ground from the sun, by wickerwork hurdles, in the 

 hottest part of the season. The crop sown in the first week of August 

 will last till it is destroyed by frost, or till October ; from which time 

 recourse must be had to the lettuces grown under glass in the manner 

 before described. Independently of the forced crop, a sowing may be 

 made in the third week in August, which, if the winter should be mild, 

 will afford some plants for use during that season ; and a sowing in 

 the last fortnight of September, under the shelter of a south wall, in 

 poor, dry, sandy soil or in the same soil, covered by a frame and 

 sashes or by hoops and mats, to be taken off every fine day, will pro- 

 duce plants for transplanting early in spring. These, if put into light 

 rich soil, in a warm situation, at one foot apart every way, will produce 

 plants fit for use about the end of April, when the forcing of lettuces may 

 be given up ; and this spring-transplanted crop will be in perfection 

 during great part of the month of May. In this way lettuces are ob- 

 tained throughout the year both in private and public gardens ; but 

 the market-gardeners about London, instead of sowing the crops where 

 they are to remain, sow in seed-beds and transplant. The plants to 

 stand through the winter for spring-transplanting are sown in a cold 



