192 GARDENING 



clayey, the beds should be thoroughly manured and 

 dug in the month of October, and thrown up into 

 four-feet ridges, well trenched, and with an inclina- 

 tion on one of their sides or corners to carry off 

 superfluous moisture. The seed should now be 

 sown and covered with a short-toothed rake, and 

 subsequently, as the frost approaches, with a light 

 layer of stable litter. This should be removed in 

 the spring, and the surfaces of the beds loosened 

 with an iron-toothed rake. The first vegetation 

 that shows itself will be that of the lettuce, and, if 

 too thickly sown, the surplus plants should be taken 

 up, and set out in rows for head-salad. In warm 

 and sandy soils the treatment is the same, with the 

 exception that the trenching and ridging will be un- 

 necessary : but, in every kind of soil, the precocity 

 of the crop will be best assured by a temporary wall 

 of straw or cornstalks, held together by a few stakes 

 and wattles, and so placed as to protect the beds 

 from north and northwest winds. 



The varieties most approved for spring culture 

 are the white, the green, the spotted coss, the Sile- 

 sia, the Great Mogul, and the India; for summer 

 use, the white Dutch, the imperial, the Aleppo, and 

 the green Egyptian ;* and for that of autumn, as 

 already stated, the white coss, the brown Dutch, 

 the grand admiral, and the New-Zealand. We need 

 scarcely remark, that the straight-leafed sort is best 

 cultivated in broadcast, and does not require trans- 

 planting, but that the curled and head lettuce cannot 

 succeed without it. In summer culture this may be 

 especially necessary, as the lettuce, like the cab 

 bage, has at this season a strong propensity to run 



* Millar says that the white coss obtained the preference over 

 all other branches of the family till the introduction of the 

 green Egyptian. This is probably the variety mentioned by 

 Oliver and Brugiere as forming the delight of the Egyptians, 

 and which among them is eaten by all ranks at all hours. See 

 Memoire sur 1'Egypte. 



