690 Forcing of Cabbage Lettuce in Holland. 



up or turned over, to make the air impregnate it ; and, if too 

 heavy, about half the quantity of mould is taken away, and 

 a similar quantity of good leaf mould put to the remainder, 

 and all well mixed together. Some gardeners take all the 

 mould out of the bed, and loosen the surface of the dung, to 

 make the moisture in winter pass through it freely ; and 

 leaf mould only is put on the bed or in the frames : and as 

 the leaf mould is much incorporated with sand, particularly 

 all round Haarlem, it is found very suitable to the growth of 

 cabbage lettuce. 



The sort of cabbage lettuce in use at that time was termed 

 Jclein groen, with black seed ; but of late years, I am informed, 

 another more palatable sort, Mem geel, with white seed, is 

 used for that purpose. 



The seed is sown very thin, in the first days of September, 

 on a melon bed which has done bearing ; and watering with a 

 fine syringe, if the weather continue dry, must not be neglected. 

 When the plants have produced the fourth leaf they are fit 

 for transplanting; the bed having been previously prepared, 

 by digging and raking, is now marked so that one plant will 

 be placed under every pane or square of glass in the window. 

 To plant a reserve, or superfluous row at top and bottom, is 

 very advisable, lest any of the main plants should be eaten by 

 the wire worm, which is often the case. After planting, the 

 lights are immediately put on, and no air given in the first 

 couple of days : as the plants begin to grow, air is given to the 

 frames, as well at the bottom as at the top (about three inches), 

 which is best performed by putting two bricks under each 

 corner of every window ; and this air may remain day and 

 night for some time. At this period it will be found very 

 necessary to search the beds every morning, if the wire worms 

 have made their appearance; and where a plant is eaten, you 

 will be pretty sure to find a worm under the root or in the 

 surface, sometimes an inch deep or so : this is to be continued 

 early in the morning every day till the insects disappear. In 

 October, when the air begins to grow cold, and the heads of 

 the cabbage lettuce begin to get close or hard, no air is given 

 any more, and the lights are entirely closed ; but it must be 

 observed, that the leaves do not at all touch the glass, as, if 

 they do, the least unexpected frost will hurt their edges 

 and the consequence will be that the plants will rot. In 

 this case the frame will have to be lifted every now and 

 then. When the nightly frosts commence, generally in Oc- 

 tober, great attention must be paid to covering the beds with 

 a single layer of bass mats; yet too much covering is to be 

 avoided before the plants are grown to perfect heads. Water- 



