224 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



they are used for planting in hotbeds and in the open ground, 

 In the extreme Northern states, however, although plants fre^ 

 quently come through the winter safely when thus protected 

 It is not a method to be depended upon. It is customary here 

 to raise the plants for spring planting, in greenhouses or early 

 hotbeds. Lettuce may be transplanted to the open ground as 



Figure 117 - Black-seeded Simpson Lettuce. (Typical curley sort. ) 



soon as the soil will work easily in the spring, but it should 

 be well hardened off before being planted out; it will, however, 

 stand quite a severe freeze if properly hardened off, and, as is 

 the case with many other crops, the plants may be protected 

 with earth on the approach of hard frost, providing it does not 

 remain over them more than a day or two. In the open ground, 

 lettuce plants should be set out about twelve inches apart each 

 way. It is frequently grown between rows of early cabbage, 

 cauliflower or other plants where it fills up otherwise unoccupied 

 space and comes off the land long before other crops need the 

 room it occupies. For late use, the seed is often sown in the 

 open ground in drills one foot apart and the plants thinned to the 

 same distance apart. It is customary also in the home garden to 

 sow the seed and then cut off the young plants as soon as they are 



