VEGETABLES LETTUCE. 215 



pointed market garden it is the most important vegetable 

 cultivated, engaging our attention throughout the entire 

 year, either in the open ground in summer, in forcing 

 houses or hot-beds in winter, or in cold frames in spring. 

 As our mode of growing it under glass is sufficiently 

 described in treating of pits, frames, etc., I will in this 

 place confine myself to our system of cultivating it out of 

 doors. 



For our main early crop, that is sold from the open 

 ground in the latter part of May or first of June, the 

 seed is sown the previous season in the open ground, 

 from the 15th to 25th of September. These plants are 

 usually large enough to be planted in frames four or 

 five weeks later, as recommended for Cabbage plants ; 

 about 600 or 700 are planted under a three by six sash. 

 Occasionally we sow seed thinly in the frame in fall and do 

 not transplant them, as it saves a great amount of labor, 

 but they are not quite so good plants as those trans- 

 planted, as it is difficult to sow them so that they come 

 up at the regular degree of thickness. The winter treat- 

 ment of Lettuce plants in every way similar to that 

 described for Cabbage plants. In dry, well-sheltered 

 spots, by covering up with leaves or litter, late in the 

 season, say middle of December, Lettuce plants, par- 

 ticularly of the more hardy kinds, such as Boston Mar- 

 ket and Butter, may be saved over winter without glass 

 covering, in southern parts of the country without dif- 

 ficulty. Like most plants that we term hardy, twenty 

 degrees of frost will not injure them. The plants for 

 setting out in spring are also sown in cold frames in 

 February, and in hot-beds in March. (See Chapter 

 on " Spring Eaising of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Let- 

 tuce.") To economize not only in space, but in manure, 

 we make every foot of our gardens available, so that 

 when we come to plant out our Lettuce in March or 

 April, instead of setting it in a bed exclusively for 



