LEPTOSIPHON. 



297 



LETTUCE. 



is to grow them in trenches, in the same 

 manner as celery ; but the trenches need 

 not be more than 8 or 9 inches deep. 

 The trenches should be well manured, 

 but if no manure is added to the soil a 

 substitute must be fcund for it in the shape 

 of liquid manure. As the plants grow, 

 the earth in the sides of the trench should 

 be raked in so as to fill it and cover the 

 plants as high as possible, thus blanching 

 them. 



LeptO 'siphon (nat. onl. Polemo- 



nia'cese). 



A charming tribe of hardy annuals which 

 should now be known under its proper 



LEPTOSII'HON HYBRIDUS. 



generic name of Cilia, although the seeds- 

 men still keep to the old name in their 

 price lists. L. densiflorus, with its pretty 

 rose-lilac flowers, and L. densiflorns albtis, 

 with its pure white blossoms, are exceed- 

 ingly attractive in beds or ribbons. Z. 

 hybridus, L. aureus, and L. Iflacinns 

 make pretty low edgings, and are very 

 suitable for rock-work ; they all make 

 nice pot plants, and succeed in any light 

 rich soil. 



Leptospermum (nat. wtf.Myrta'cese). 

 A genus of half hardy greenhouse shrubs 

 not very widely known and therefore not 

 much cultivated. They mostly bear white 

 flowers. They are propagated by seeds 

 sown in gentle heat at the commencement 

 of spring, or by cuttings of young shoots 



taken in May and struck in sand under a 

 handglass. They require a compost of 

 rich loam and peat with a little sand and 

 charcoal. 



Lettuce. 



Lettuces are a surface crop, and light 

 feeders ; consequently, by giving plenty of 

 manure, we not only insure good lettuces, 

 but prepare the ground for a grosser-feeding 

 crop, sowing the seed broadcast, and tread- 

 ing it in if on light soil. On wet ground, 

 if apt to bind or clod, this is not to be 

 recommended ; but mark the ground into 

 one or more beds, 4 feet wide, with alleys 

 15 inches in width between. Standing in 

 the alleys, sow the seed, and press it in 

 with the rake, or cover with some light 

 soil. 



Sowing for succession. Where a succes- 

 sion of lettuces is required throughout the 

 year, it will be necessary to sow once a 

 month till March ; after that once a fort- 

 night, or every three weeks ; for although 

 a crop may last a month in moist weather, 

 they are soon over in the hot summer 

 months, and it is as well to be provided 

 with plenty of young plants for succession. 

 After August, once a month will be often 

 enough. Sow the seed thinly over a piece 



COS LETTUCE. 



of ground sufficient to grow a fortnight's 

 supply ; when large enough to transplant, 

 thin them out to a foot apart, and plant 

 the thinnings a foot apart on a piece thu 



