LETTUCE. 
73 
Jogue have been known to stand our winters, and may be 
60 wn fiom the first to the middle of September, in rich 
ground, free from weeds ; they answer very well when sown 
with Spinach, and should be covered with straw at the ap- 
proach of severe weather. These plants, if transplanted into 
warm borders, or in the open ground, as early in March as 
the weather will permit, will produce fine heads early in the 
month of May. 
The best of the tender kinds of Lettuce should be sown in 
moderate hot-beds early in March, and if transplanted into 
good ground by the middle of April, will produce their heads 
before the approach of warm weather. Such kinds as are 
known to produce heads in hot weather, and also such as are 
intended to be cut as a small salad while young, may be sowtj 
*n warm borders in March and April ; but those designed for 
heading should be transplanted as soon as they are an inch 
or two in height, and kept in a growing state by frequent 
hoeing, or they may run up to seed as the season advances. 
If it be an object with the gardener to have good strong 
Lettuce plants for transplanting, the seed should be sown 
very thin. One ounce of good seed is sufficient for a border 
of six feet in width by eighteen feet in length, and will pro 
duce from ten to twelve thousand plants. 
All kinds of Lettuce intended for heading should be plant- 
ed in good ground, twelve inches distant from each other 
every way ; the plants should be carefully hoed every othei 
week during their growth ; the first hoeing should be done 
in about two weeks after they are transplanted. 
The Coss Lettuce requires to be blanched ; this is done 
by gatheringup the leaves of the plants and tying bass round 
them, when grown to perfection. 
If Head Lettuce be required at other seasons than the 
spring, it may be obtained in autumn by sowing seed in Au- 
gust, or in the winter by means of garden frames and glazed 
sashes. [ See article on Forcing Vegetables.] 
7 
