ON llEAEING KITCHE:^ VEGETABLES. 



81 



ably perish. It is generally unsafe to attempt preserving 

 any lettuce through the winter without protection. 



For a seed-bed three feet broad and seven feet long, 

 one-eighth of an ounce of seed will be enough, and wdll 

 produce about two hundred plants. 



Sow thinly broadcast on a finely-dug and raked bed, or 

 in shallow drills fifteen inches apart, coveriug the seed 

 very slightly with soil. Weed carefully, and when the 

 plants are an inch or two high, thin them to four inches 

 apart, and when five inches high, to ten or twelve inches 

 apart, hoeing them up at the same time, and planting out 

 those which are moved into a separate plot, taking care 

 to water them then, and for some days afterwards. Being 

 a very juicy plant, it requires to be grown rapidly, and 

 any great check spoils it. Showery weather should there- 

 fore always be chosen for transplanting it ; or, when this 

 cannot be secured, the evening of the day is the best time. 



Earth-worms will be apt to draw into their holes the 

 pricked-out plants ; and pigeons and other birds, as well as 

 slugs, and night-feeding caterpillars, will devour the leaves, 

 if care be not taken to prevent this. A few cabbage or 

 larger lettuce leaves strewn about among the young plants, 

 for a few days or a week after planting, will serve as a 

 good decoy for snails and slugs. Lettuces are often sown 

 Avith advantage amongst onions, and in alternate drills with 

 spinach, radishes, or potatoes. One plant of a sort, per- 

 mitted to stand, will produce abundance of seed, which 

 must be gathered by hand as it ripens, or it will blow 

 away. Lettuce may be blanched as directed for endive. 



9. — Endive, 



Endive has similar properties to lettuce, but is more 

 bitter, and not so j^^^l^table, though the curled sort is 

 prettier in appearance when blanched. The small Batavian 

 is the best. 



For a seed-bed three feet broad and seven feet long, a 

 quarter of an ounce of seed is enough. 



The seed should be sown precisely like that of lettuce, in 

 rich soil, from the middle of June to the third wxek of 

 July, or later. Weed the bed carefully as soon as the 



