OCT.] 503 



OCTOBER. 



WORK TO BE DONE IN THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 



Winter Spinach. 



WEED and thin your advancing crops of spinach ; in doing 

 this, observe to leave the best plants, and at the distance of three, 

 four, or five inches asunder, according to the progress in growth 

 of the successive crops ; leaving the greatest space between the 

 most forward in growth. Or the plants may only be moderately thin- 

 ned now, in order to admit of drawing some out, by degrees, for use. 



Some of the spinach sown in August will be now fit for the 

 table, and if the plants were left too thick, let them be thinned out 

 regularly, by pulling some up by the roots as they are wan led for 

 use ; but if the plants were properly thinned before, gather only the 

 outside large leaves, and the others will advance for culinary pur- 

 poses in regular succession. 



Let it be particularly observed, that spinach will rot off wherever 

 the weeds spread over it, and that, consequently, it is necessary 

 to keep it very clean. 



Lettuce. 



In the first week of this month transplant from the seed beds, 

 into others, of light rich earth, in a warm exposure, and of such 

 dimensions as to be covered with your frames on the approach of 

 frost, the lettuce plants arising from the late August or early Sep- 

 tember sowings. Plant them in rows five or six inches distant 

 every way, so that every second plant may be taken up either for 

 use or future planting, leaving the others sufficient room to gr^w, 

 and to head in the greatest perfection. 



Likewise plant some stout plants immediately in frames, for use 

 in the latter end of November, December, &c. covering them only 

 at night till the severe frosts set in. 



Lettuces designed to remain where sown, till spring, should 

 be duly thinned as they advance in growth, and always kept free 

 from weeds. 



The various successive crops of lettuces should be transplanted, 

 where they are to remain during winter, whether on warm borders, 

 in slight hot-beds, or under frames and glasses, as early in th's 

 month as they shall have attained to two or three inches in growth ; 

 and indeed a judicious gardener will always have a regular succes- 

 sion of these plants, to guard against every kind of disappointment, 

 and the better to insure a constant supply. 



In the middle states, if the winter is tolerably mild, but parti- 

 cularly in the southern states, lettuces will stand in warm 



