164 A HOME VEGETABLE-GARDEN 



drifted frame, the most delicious tender white- 

 hearted heads of lettuce were ready for the 

 freshest spring salad. 



There are some other varieties worth consider- 

 ing; and we would do best to choose with care. 

 Salamander lettuce is rightly named ; it produces 

 crisp fine-flavored heads in spite of hot mid- 

 summer weather. The Cos lettuces are also suited 

 to hot weather. They are a kind of celery lettuce 

 that form longish heads, blanching mild and crisp, 

 in spite of the burning heat that tends to embitter 

 the flavor of any salad plants. With lettuce, 

 there is a variety for each season, a special kind 

 for almost every variation of climate. Choosing 

 the variety to fit the season, lettuce will furnish 

 fresh salad almost the year around. 



While lettuce grows almost anywhere, under 

 almost any conditions, it needs, for best growth, 

 a rich sandy loam, well-drained. For early seed- 

 ing, ridging insures better surface drainage and 

 more warmth and, therefore, more rapid growth. 

 An extra supply of nitrogen furnished any salad 

 plant makes luxuriant crisp growth. Nitrogen- 

 grown lettuce is so tender that the weight of the 

 water will actually break the thick buttery leaves 

 as they are lifted out of the cool cleansing plunge. 



While we feed the growing lettuce properly, we 

 should not forget that any succulent plant is sure 

 to be thirsty. Give the rows of lettuce plenty of 

 water, whenever it is really needed. Let the sur- 



