206 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 3, 1860. 
check, and do not predispose the plant to “ run.” I hare a 
border containing 600 plants this year, not one of which has 
started for flower. 
Eor other crops in succession we make later sowings, planting 
out our latest about the end of August. Much care is taken in 
the earthing up, the soil being carefully put round the plants 
with the hands ; and w r e are careful not to smother the heart by 
earthing it up in too young a state. We grow the large Manches¬ 
ter Teel for early use, and Turner's Incomparable for later 
purposes. 
LETTUCES. 
A good Lettuce is always a most acceptable vegetable, and to 
insure a good supply is an anxious care with most gardeners. 
Perhaps there never was a worse season for them than the one 
just past; the extreme dryness of which has caused them in all 
directions to run to seed. 
This crop requires good land, either that which is rich in 
humus, or has recently had a good coat of organic manure. 
Guano is an excellent dressing for them. In spring and summer 
they should always be sown broadcast, as tiansplanting breaks 
their tap roots, and favours their disposition to run to seed very 
much. Constant hoeing is of great benefit to them; and when 
fit to tie in they should be perfectly dry, or else decay will ensue. 
One of the most important of our Lettuce crops is the one for 
spring use, generally sown about the 25th of August. They 
should not be permitted to remain too long together in the seed¬ 
beds, as it lays the foundation of damp and disease in them; but 
rather they should be pricked out young, and kept thin and 
hardy. In some places 1 have seen large borders thus affected 
from peculiarity in the locality ; and I think judicious thinning 
and attention the best preventives. The earliest and best 
Lettuces are generally from the foot of a south wall, and nothing 
can exceed the delicious flavour and crispness of a well grown 
specimen of this kind. 
The French are very clever in producing early Lettuces under 
their cloches, or bell-glasses. They form sloping banks of old 
Melon-soil, and the dung of then’ beds. These banks are a 
complete mass of light, rich humus ; upon them their cloches are 
placed; and thirty plants are the number first put under each 
glass, to be successively thinned till one or two only remain to 
come to perfection. These appear in Covent Garden very early in 
spring. 
ENDIVE. 
This is a most useful, agreeable, and wholesome salad, possess¬ 
ing great beauty when nicely blanched. Its culture is very 
simple and straightforward. 
The earliest crop may be sown about the middle of June, and 
successional ones till the middle of August. It grows well upon 
any land which has been manured for the previous crop, or 
which has plenty of humus in it. The last-sown crop will be fit 
for planting out in the beginning of September. This is an im¬ 
portant crop ; as, if lifted and put into frames, it will supply both 
the kitchen and the table through the dreary months of winter, 
wanting only plenty of air and security from frost. In blanching 
it, if introduced into a Mushroom-shed, it will give it great 
whiteness and purity. 
WATER CRESSES. 
It may not be generally known that this Cress may be had in 
great abundance, and of good quality, by simply planting a row 
under a north wall; where, from its large produce, it will be 
found to be a most useful auxiliary to the supply of salad. 
BEET-ROOT. 
This delicious salad has many varieties, many of which run 
large, and are of a somewhat Mangold Wurtzel character. The 
best sort we have seen is Turner's Tine Apple Teel, which is 
small in size, tender, and of a beautiful colour. It should not be 
sown till the middle of May, and likes good land. 
CHICORY. 
A most useful salad, which does well by taking up the roots, 
putting them into boxes, and blanching them in a Mushroom- 
lied. If Endive claims our notice for the beauty and delicacy 
of its form, Chicory is entitled to the same amount of praise as 
one of the most beautiful of salads. 
CUCUMBERS 
are esteemed very essential as a salad, although not a wholesome 
one. They require much attention for their winter production. 
The plants for a winter crop should be sown early in August, 
and grow'n on with abundant ventilation till they are very strong 
and rude in health; not allowing them to produce fruit till 
this stage is reached. Cucumbers for spring use have been so 
fully before the public, that we would refer every tyro to some of 
the numerous treatises upon the subject. Their summer culture 
is also well known, and nothing for this purpose exceeds the 
common dung-bed, which, if a good lining is put round it in 
September, will carry them on till November, to be succeeded 
by the winter crop. 
RADISHES. 
Thus we have noticed a few of the most salient points in salad 
growing. There is, however, one adjunct which we have omitted 
to notice—viz., the Radish. To produce a good crop of these at 
Christmas (the most difficult time), take in the beginning of 
October a three-light frame, and fill it with mould up to within 
three inches of the glass; upon this sow your seed; when up, 
thin them and put a net over them, to keep the birds away ; 
always give plenty of air, and protection from frost, by covering 
and mulching round the frame, and you will have nice young 
Radishes for Christmas. At all other times their culture needs 
no comment. 
There are few things which ai;e more telling in the character of 
a gardener than his success in salad growing ; and it is quite 
certain that those who fail in this respect do not realise the beau 
ideal of good gardeners. 
SMALL SALADING. 
Small salading is a very useful addition to these things, re¬ 
quiring but to be sown successionally to insure a supply. Various 
herbs are sometimes used in salads, such as Tarragon, which is 
forced in pots in winter. We have frequently seen this done 
without producing almost any shoots. This has been owing to 
the plants having been cut down too early. They should never 
have their stems cut down till the base-buds are beginning (o 
push, and this happens also to Peutstemons. This a simple 
thing; but many persons, I think, have not learned it, and I 
myself gleaned it from Mr. Cockburn, gardener to Lord Mans¬ 
field, at Caen Wood. 
Chervil may be had plentifully for sowing, as may also the 
flowers of the Nasturtium. 
Burnet is frequently used. It is propagated by division, and 
is a very common plant. 
I have now, I think, exhausted my list of English salad plants. 
But there is one more plant which is grown ad infinitum, in 
France, and called Tscarolle. It is much used for stewing, and 
requires the common culture of Endive. By-the-by, the Aus¬ 
tralian Salacl Cress, sent out by Messrs. Henderson, is a nice 
addition to our Cresses. II. Bailey, Nuneham. 
HINTS ON ICE-HOUSES AND ICE-HEAPS. 
The management of these so frequently comes under the 
gardener’s care, that, to save a number of private letters, I have 
stated I would allude to the subject in The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener. My only excuse for doing so being the fact, that the 
matter has not been noticed for a number of years, for I do 
not think I have anything new to communicate in addition to 
what has been stated by Mr. Beaton, and others, in .previous 
volumes. 
Some correspondents who are anxious to have a small ice-house 
are deterred chiefly from the fact, that in sinking in the ground, 
the neighbourhood in which they live is so level that they would 
have great difficulty in getting a drain to take away the water 
from the melted ice. Their object is to have ice not merely for 
luxury, but also for medicinal purposes; and could such a thing be 
done, they would like to have it near, or close to, their mansions, 
instead of at a distance from them. Now, where a regular ice-house 
is built, it is certainly best to have it on a slope or bank, so that 
it may be approached with carts on the level, and there may be 
no difficulty in taking a trapped-drain from its bottom—that 
bottom being covered with open woodwork so that the moisture 
may drain off freely. But if that bottom is of chalk or open 
gravel, and a narrow well of a few feet deep is made in its 
centre, the moisture from the melted ice will pass away, in general, 
as fast as it is formed, provided strong plankings are laid across 
the bottom, and some faggots over the planking. In all cases, 
however, of such wells or houses, a drain from the bottom will be 
desirable, trapped so as to prevent the air entering freely; as, if 
