GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



spring, a little should be sown in January in a cold frame 

 under glass. Gi^e it plenty of air, but keep it covered 

 niglits and cold days, and as tlie weather grows mild leave 

 off the glass altogether a little Avhile before setting out in 

 the open air. The early sown Butter lettuce may also be 

 transplanted under glass at nine inches apart, and the table 

 be kept supplied in this way with fresh heads all winter. 

 Plenty of air must be given them, and they should be 

 covered in freezing weather only. Hoe deep and often. 

 For a fall heading, a crop can be sown in August at the 

 same time with turnips in a shady situation, which being 

 transplanted, will give goodheads in November and Decem- 

 ber. The fall and summer sowdngs do much better if 

 thinned to a suitable distance, and allowed to head where 

 they stand, as lettuce plants are very impatient of trans- 

 planting in hot weather. The Butter and the Brown 

 Dutch are the best for this sowung. 



Seed. — Some of the finest and most perfect heads of the 

 early sown crops should be selected. Unless from a good 

 head the seed cannot be depended upon. Each variety 

 must be kept separate, and all imperfect heading plants 

 near them destroyed. Tie them to stakes and gather the 

 branches as fast as they ripen. Dry the seed in the shade, 

 and thresh and store in paper bags. Lettuce seed cannot 

 be relied upon when more than two years old. 



Use. — Lettuce is the most popular of all salads, and it 

 is also sometimes used in soups. Boiled, it is quite equal 

 to spinach. It is fit to boil from the time it is large 

 enough until the seed stalk begins to shoot up. Its juice 

 contains a narcotic principle somewhat like opium, which 

 is in small proportions when young, but increases with the 

 ago of the plant. This principle has not the constipating 

 effects of opium. A tea prepared of lettuce leaves is bene- 

 ficial in cases of diarrhoea. For a common salad, let the 



