222 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



Early Lettuces from the Open. Apart from those matured 

 on hot-beds or in cold frames, it is quite possible, by taking 

 advantage of every situation which is free from excessive damp 

 and will give protection from cold winds, to obtain batches 

 of Lettuce from the open-air sufficiently early to be disposed 

 of at very remunerative prices. Plants which have passed 

 through the winter under protection may, instead of being set 

 out in cold frames, be kept back until there is a spell of mild 

 weather in February or March and then planted in the open. 

 Sunny beds protected by a wall or fence, or by a hedge or belt 

 of trees, or the spaces between rows of cabbage from which 

 collards have been removed, are all situations which may be 

 turned to advantage for growing early Lettuce. 



It is advisable also to plant batches of hardy varieties of 

 both Cos and Cabbage Lettuce to stand in open beds through 

 the winter. These should be sown on a well prepared seed-bed 

 about the 14th of September, pricked out on a nursery bed as 

 soon as the seedlings can be handled, and set out permanently 

 at the end of October. Sometimes, when a wet time is followed 

 by hard frost, they suffer severely, but more often they pass 

 through the winter safely and give a very early crop. There 

 is, however, the danger of destruction by birds to which winter 

 Lettuces" are always subject, to circumvent which depends 

 upon the resourcefulness of the individual grower. Near 

 populous districts sparrows often do them a lot of damage, 

 and in the open country skylarks are even more destructive, it 

 being not uncommon, especially after a slight fall of snow, for 

 flocks to descend upon a patch of Lettuce and speedily clear 

 away every vestige of green leaf. 



Main-crop and Summer Lettuces. geedlings for the main- 

 crop are sometimes sown in heat, but unless in comparatively 

 small numbers which can be given proper attention in watering 

 this plan is not advisable, as the plants have a tendency to bolt 

 if the weather should come hot and dry. It is a much better 

 way to make provision for early crops by the methods already 

 indicated and to sow the seed for the maincrops on a properly 

 prepared bed in the open. This should be done each month 

 from March to June, regulating the quantity according to the 

 space available and the market to be supplied. The bed sown 



