KITCHEN-GARDEN VEGETABLES. 
pulled up, dried in the sun for two or three 
days, and then placed under cover. Lentils 
keep best in the husk; in this way they remain 
_ fit for food or for sowing for two years. 
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa).—A hardy annual, 
native of India or Central Asia. It has been 
cultivated in this country since the middle of 
the sixteenth century. 
To obtain good Lettuces in the early part 
of summer preparation should be made late 
in July or early August. An open space 
sheltered from the north and north-east, and 
having a hard surface, should be selected, and 
the dimensions of a one-, two-, or three-light 
frame, according to the supply required, should 
be traced out. One thousand plants, fit for 
planting out, may be reared in each light; but 
allowance should be made for accidents. The 
frame should either face the south-east, south, 
or south-west. The bed should consist of 
stable-litter, shaken and beaten with the fork, 
so as to be as equally compact as possible. 
It should be about 2 feet high at the back 
and not more than 1 foot in front, for it is 
necessary that the sashes should have a steep 
slope, in order that the moisture may run down 
the glass rather than drip on the plants. The 
frames should not be more than 44 feet wide. 
The object of putting up the bed so long before 
the time of sowing is to allow the litter to 
settle and fermentation to cease, the stimulus 
of extra heat not being required. 
The soil for the frames should be got ready 
in the first week of October. It must be light, 
but it need not be very rich. Leaf-mould is very 
good, and it may be mixed with a little sand, and 
put on 6 or 7 inches thick; at all events, 1t should 
be filled in to within 5 inches of the sashes. 
The seeds should be sown in the second week 
in October. After sowing, the sashes should be 
kept on till the seeds begin to germinate, when 
air ought to be freely given, and the sashes 
drawn quite off in favourable weather during 
the day. If the plants get frozen, the frames 
must be kept close till the plants are thawed. 
If a sash be lifted up when the plants beneath 
it are stiff with frost, they are almost sure to 
damp off; therefore great care must be taken in 
giving air at such times. The external air should 
not be admitted in large quantity when it is 
much warmer than the soil in the frame, or the 
moisture of the warmer air will be condensed, 
and the plants will be liable to damp off in 
consequence. 
Very little watering will be required. When 
457 
the plants are up, and as soon as they can be 
handled, they should be thinned by removing 
the weakest seedlings, so that those left may be 
about 1d4inch apart. The aim should be to keep 
the plants merely growing till the days begin to 
lengthen; therefore, during December, if occa- 
sional sunshine should throw heat into the frame, 
the stimulus must not be taken advantage off. 
On the contrary, additional air should be given, 
so that the sun-heat may escape, rather than 
accumulate to stimulate the plants. 
In January, if the weather be favourable, a 
more active growth should be encouraged; but 
it is still desirable that it should be steady. If 
the plants are backward in growth, the direc- 
tions for giving abundance of air may be some- 
what modified, and less air may be given in 
Fig. 12138.—Cabbage Lettuce—Tom Thumb. 
January, and till near the time of planting out, 
when the plants should again be freely exposed 
in all moderate weather. In January, the 
weather is sometimes unusually mild, with a 
south-west wind, but wet and sunless. There is 
then danger of the plants drawing up tall and 
weak before they can be planted out. In this 
case, whilst the sashes must necessarily be em- 
ployed as protection from wet, yet they should 
be removed so as to allow a free circulation of 
air whenever it can be done with safety. 
Planting out is done near London in January, 
but the preferable time is February. The object 
is to get the plants well rooted before the dry 
March winds set in. The ground should accord- 
ingly be prepared before that time. It should 
be light and well manured, not at top, but below 
the plants. The best kind of manure is fresh 
littery stable-dung, moistened with the manure- 
drainings from the stables. The dung should be 
spread equally over the surface about 2 inches 
thick. The ground should then be lined off for 
2-feet trenches; the first trench being taken out 
one spade deep, the dung on the second space 
of 2 feet should then be turned into the bottom, 
