1076 



Gardening for Amateurs 



well-dug soil, burying the plant to its 

 leaves so that the stem may be blanched. 

 For exhibition purposes Leeks should be 

 grown quite 12 inches apart in well-manured 



Out-of-door Mushroom bed. 



trenches like Celery, blanching the stems 

 with paper collars or by earthing up. For 

 late spring and early summer use, sow at the 

 end of April and put out the plants in July. 



Lettuce. England lags 

 considerably behind the Con- 

 tinent in its liking for and 

 con si mpticn of salads, 

 among which the Lettuce 

 takes so high a place. There 

 are two distinct types of 

 Lettuce, the Cos and the 

 Cabbage. The Cos type is of 

 upright growth, and the 

 Cabbage type dwarf and 

 more spreading. The latter 

 is perhaps the easier to grow, 

 and therefore more com- 

 monly seen. It is also 

 slightly the hardier of the 

 two ; but for quality of 

 flavour the Cos Lettuce, 



when well grown and properly blanched, is 

 the better. 



A few varieties of Lettuce are quite 

 hardy, and are planted by the acre every 

 autumn by market gardeners for the supply 

 of spring and early summer demands. 

 Among them are the following : Bath Cos, 

 Hardy Hammersmith (Cabbage), and Stan- 

 stead Park (Cabbage), the latter one of the 

 best Cabbage Lettuces for all purposes. 



The first essential in the cultivation of 

 good Lettuce is well-prepared ground ; it 

 is impossible to grow juicy and crisp and 

 succulent produce in poor soil. 



The spring and early summer supply is 

 obtained from plants of the hardy varie- 

 ties put out in autumn, seeds being sown in 

 the middle of August and at the same time 

 in September in drills 10 inches apart on a 

 warm border. Transplant the seedlings as 

 soon as they are large enough to handle, 10 

 inches apart. Those from seeds sown in 

 September will probably withstand frost 

 better than the earlier ones, of which some 

 ought to be planted in a cold frame in poor 

 soil to fill up gaps in spring. They may be 

 put 5 inches apart in the frame, thinned to 

 10 inches later, and, if wished, allowed to 

 mature in the frame, thus giving an earlier 

 supply. 



Spring and Summer Sowing. The first 

 spring sowing should be made early in March 

 in a box of light soil in a warm greenhouse. 

 Choose the early Tom Thumb variety of 

 Cabbage Lettuce. The seedlings are subse- 



Mushroom bed against a wall in a shed : references as 

 on opposite page- 



