GARDENING UNDER GLASS 343 



and not as Southern lettuce, by the barrel. For home use we greatly prefer 

 the Grand Eapids lettuce to the heading lettuce of any kind, but as we have 

 said, the grower must cater to his market, and until the people of the East 

 find out the superiority of the curled lettuce the growers cannot afford to pro- 

 duce it. For the Christmas crop of lettuce we sow the Big Boston seed in 

 late August in the open ground, and make another sowing or two in Septem- 

 ber. The plants are set in the frames, prepared as we have described to be cov- 

 ered with cloth, or in frames six feet wide and fourteen inches deep to be 

 covered with glass sashes three feet wide and six feet long, laid crosswise the 

 frames. The plants are set as soon as large enough, and are shaded for a 

 while till they get started. No cover is placed over them until there is danger 

 that the mercury will fall below freezing at night, and then the cover must 

 be removed daily to prevent too rapid and flabby a growth, for lettuce grown 

 with a high temperature will not only not head so well, but will be too flabby 

 to ship in good order. An acre of frames will require the constant attention 

 of two or three men all winter, if the two crops are grown. One grower of our 

 acquaintance keeps eight men to manage three and a half acres in lettuce 

 frames during the winter; these same men of course attend to the shipping. 

 While in the South the sashes are usually sufficient to protect and grow let- 

 tuce, the wise grower will always have at hand some mats to cover the glass 

 in exceptionally cold spells. We make these mats from the common broom- 

 sedge of the South, which is the cheapest and most lasting material we can 

 get. They are made four feet wide and seven feet long so as to break joints 

 and cover all cracks between sashes ; in our coldest weather we can completely 

 exclude frost with these mats. Lettuce, until it heads, does not mind consid- 

 erable frost, but when the head is formed it is essential to keep the frost out, 

 as it is then easily damaged. We always let the later sowings remain in the 

 open ground, so as to have them ready for replanting at any time, as the 

 plants will come through the winter in the open ground here easily, in a place 

 slightly sheltered from the cold winds. The culture of lettuce in frames in 

 the South is so easy and simple that no farmer's family should be without a 

 full supply during the winter, hence a few sashes should always be found in 

 every farm garden. 



MAKING THE FRAMES. 



We construct cold frames of any convenient length, running east and 

 west. The back (or north) side we make of inch and a half plank 18 inches 

 high, and the front ( or south) side 12 inches high. These sides are nailed 

 to posts on the outside, firmly set in the ground for if not attached in this way, 

 the sides soon get tilted out of the perpendicular. Some growers make no 



