LETTUCE 163 



were shaded from the hot flavor-embittering sun- 

 shine by the great wide-spreading squash leaves. 

 They were almost forgotten. On looking for the 

 first crooknecks, there, in the cool shade of the 

 big plants, were the little brown heads in a tight- 

 packed row. The extra nitrogen-providing food 

 that made the yellow squashes cool-tasting and 

 tender and succulent, made the lettuce crispy and 

 delicate beyond description. When gathered in 

 the cool of the early morning, one of the tiny 

 brown heads with the creamy-white heart laid 

 open on the plate was just salad enough for one. 

 This delicate lettuce may be grown all summer, 

 thus sheltered in some way. 



Another variety especially fine for fall and early 

 winter is Big Boston. One season the gardener 

 came across a package of those seeds. They were 

 sown in a spare plot at midsummer. Not much 

 attention was given the young plants; but here 

 and there in the thickly sown row, heads began 

 to form. As the plants were thinned, the heads 

 grew big and firm. Even after frost had come, 

 these carelessly sown seeds had become a com- 

 pact growth of big firm heads. There were more 

 than we could use. It seemed too bad to leave 

 them to die. So, as a venture, a kind of coldframe 

 was built about them; the soil was hoed up over 

 the bottom of the frame and an old sash was laid 

 over the top. Now and then a head was removed ; 

 and, until nearly Christmas, beneath the snow- 



