KITCHEN-GARDENING. 91 



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

 moderate hotbeds 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 are 

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

 tended to be cut as a small salad while young, may be 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 produce from 

 ten to twelve thousand plants. All kinds of Lettuce intended 

 for heading should be planted in good ground, twelve inches 

 distant from each other every way ; the plants should be care- 

 fully hoed every other week during their growth. The first 

 hoeing should be done in about two weeks after they are trans- 

 planted. 



The Coss Lettuce requires to be blanched. This is done by 

 gathering up the leaves of the plants and tying bass around 

 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 August, or in the winter by means of garden 

 frames and glazed sashes. (See article on Forcing Vegetables.) 



Moisture is the most essential nutriment of Lettuce; and 

 the best varieties may run to seed without forming heads, in 

 the event of extreme dry weather. Those who put off the 

 sowing of seed until May and June, instead of sowing it in 

 March and April, as directed, may procure head Lettuce from 

 some of their strongest plants by transplanting them into rich 

 ground as soon as they are an inch or two in height, and the 

 remainder, if left thin in the beds, may produce small heads 

 by stirring the earth around them with a small hoe or weed- 

 ing-hook. These are as good for family use as larger heads, 



