THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 205 



respond well and quickly to light surface dressings 

 of nitrate of soda. 



There are several classes of lettuce, the principal 

 of which are heading, cutting, and cos. The head- 

 ing varieties form heads resembling cabbage. The 

 cutting sorts do not form heads. They have loose 

 leaves. The cos varieties are especially adapted to 

 withstand hot weather; they produce elongated 

 heads of very superior quality. Then there are 

 special varieties in each of the first two classes 

 adapted for forcing and for outdoor planting. 

 Among the best known heading varieties are White 

 Tennis Ball (or Boston Market), Hanson, and 

 Black-Seeded Tennis Ball. Among the cutting 

 varieties are Black-Seeded Simpson and Grand 

 Rapids. For summer use Salamander is a good 

 heading sort. All of the cos varieties are good. 



George Tong of Hennepin county, Minnesota, 

 grows head lettuce in hotbeds as follows : " Plants 

 were started about March i in an ordinary hotbed 

 and were well aired to get hardy plants. The hotbed 

 into which they were transplanted was made the 

 last week in March, making a bed of hot manure 

 8 feet wide and 18 inches deep on top of the 

 ground. Frames were made as for ordinary cold 

 frames, except that they were deeper, 18 inches 

 back and 10 inches front. 



" These frames were set on the manure. After 

 the mass had settled well and had been trampled 

 evenly 5 inches of rich soil was put on. This was 

 covered with about 1 inch of rotted sheep manure 

 and thoroughly mixed with the soil. The bed was 

 then marked so plants would stand 8 inches each 

 way, putting in about 40 plants to the sash. 



" Our sashes are made 3x6 feet, using 2 x 2-inch 

 stuff, with a crossbar of the same in the middle. 



