LETTUCE. 73 



logue have been known to stand our winters, and may be 

 sown from the first to the middle of September, in rich 

 ground, free from weeds ; they answer very well when sown 

 with Spinach, and should be covered with straw at the ap- 

 proach of severe weather. These plants, if transplanted into 

 warm borders, or in the open ground, as early in March as 

 the weather will permit, will produce fine heads early in the 

 month of May. 



The best of the tender kinds of Lettuce should be sown in 

 moderate hot-beds early in March, and if transplanted into 

 good ground by the middle of April, will produce their heads 

 before the approach of warm weather. Such kinds as aie 

 known to produce heads in hot weather, and also such as are 

 intended to be cut as a small salad while young, maybe sown 

 in warm borders in March and April ; but those designed for 

 heading should be transplanted as soon as they are an inch 

 or two in height, and kept in a growing state by frequent 

 hoeing, or they may run up to seed as the season advances. 



If it be an object with the gardener to have good strong 

 Lettuce plants for transplanting, the seed should be sown 

 very thin. One ounce of good seed is sufficient for a border 

 of six feet in width by eighteen feet in length, and will pro- 

 duce from ten to twelve thousand plants. 



All kinds of Lettuce intended for heading should be plant- 

 ed in good ground, twelve inches distant from each other 

 every way ; the plants should be carefully hoed every othei 

 week during their growth ; the first hoeing should be done 

 in about two weeks after they are transplanted. 



The Coss Lettuce requires to be blanched ; this is done 

 by gathering up the leaves of the plants and tying bass round 

 them, when grown to perfection. 



If Head Lettuce be required at other seasons than the 

 spring, it may be obtained in autumn by sowing seed in Au- 

 gust, or in the winter by means of garden frames and glazed 

 sashes. \See article on Forcing Vegetables.] 



