as. practised at Hi/lands. 389 



cut lettuces every day till May next, or till he had them in 

 the open air ; and that those in January and February would 

 be as large, firm, tender, and succulent, as the best that can 

 be grown in the open air in summer. In short, he stated 

 that, in Holland, larger and better lettuces were grown in 

 frames in winter, than in the open air in summer. The sort of 

 lettuce used, Mr. Nieman calls " the Dutch Forcing ;" it seems 

 to us like the Union Cabbage Lettuce ; but the kind seems of 

 no great consequence. To any gardener willing to try the 

 plan, nothing more need be said, except that no warm lin- 

 ings are added during the winter, but only litter or leaves 

 (Jig. 136. a); that the frames are powerfully covered up dur- 

 ing nights with reeds and mats, and in very severe weather 

 almost for entire days ; that in very bright sunshine the glass 

 is shaded by the spray of beech or hornbeam, which is con- 

 sidered preferable to mats, as moderating the brilliancy of 

 the sun's rays, and at the same time admitting light. As 

 before mentioned, no water is given during the whole course 

 of culture. The plants are always close to the glass, and the 

 space outside the frame always kept covered with vegetable 

 mould to the height of the top of the frame without, (fig. 1 36.) 

 Most gardeners would be afraid of the leaves damping ofi^ 

 but this never happens. Should any leaves happen to decay 

 or become mouldy, they must be carefully removed without 

 loss of time. 



Carrots and Radishes. — Several sowings of these are made 

 during the winter, as they may be expected to be wanted, on 

 old melon beds, prepared in the same way as for lettuces, but 

 with rather more warm dung. The first sowing is made in 

 the last week of September, along with a few radish seeds, 

 which were now making their appearance. By means of other 

 sowings in hotbeds, and six or seven sowings in the open gar- 

 den in January, February, March, April, May, August, and 

 September, Mr. Nieman draws young carrots about the size 

 of radishes every day in the year. No carrots of a larger 

 size are ever used in Mr. Labouchere's family, except for 

 the servants. The sorts used appear to be a good variety 

 of the Early Horn. The plants get no water during the 

 whole winter, and are in every other respect treated like the 

 lettuces. 



Kidneybeans. — An old melon bed is prepared in the last 

 week of August for the first crop, the fruit of which was now 

 setting, and in part ready to gather. As the kidneybeans 

 require a good deal of heat, a bed, composed in gi'eat part of 

 fresh dung, is made up in the second week of November for 



c c 3 



