118 



TRAXSPLAxXTED CROPS 



lettuce, the early crop should be started in time to complete 

 its growth before the normal season for excessively hot weather 

 (Fig. 70). In order that this may be done, it is necessary to start 

 the plants under glass before outdoor gardening can begin. If 

 the seeds are sown in hotbeds from February 20 to March 1, the 

 plants will be of the right size for transplanting about April 15. 

 Usually the plants grown from seed sown in hotbeds are not 

 shifted before the final transplanting to the field, but are simply 



Fig. 67. — Cos lettuce or romaine. 



hardened-off in the hotbed, which by that time will be virtually 

 the same as a coldframe, since the heat of the manure will have 

 been spent or the fire can be withheld. In some parts of the 

 South early cabbage seed is sown in September and the plants 

 wintered over in coldframes for early spring planting, but the 

 method just described is the one usually employed in the corn 

 belt and northward. 



Early cabbage bears transplanting very readily. It is not 

 necessary that the plants be taken up with earth adhering to the 



