62 
AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER. 
used in young, open growth. In a very young state, the cabbage-lettuces 
have a milder, more agreeable taste than the Cos; but when both classes 
are full grown, the flavor of the Cos is preferred for salads, while the cab¬ 
bage kinds are more used for soups. 
Propagation .—From seed, of which, for a seed-bed four feet wide by ten 
feet in length, a quarter of an ounce is sufficient, and will produce upwards 
of four hundred plants. 
Soil and situation. —“All the sorts grow freely on any rich, mellow soil, 
where the sub-soil is dry. For the most part, raise this vegetable as a prin¬ 
cipal crop, on beds set apart for it, and keep the varieties separate ; but to 
multiply the supplies throughout summer, portions may be sown, thinly in¬ 
termixed with principal crops of leeks, onions, carrots, and spinage, which 
will come off before the lettuces are full grown; also with any young peren¬ 
nials, which stand at wide intervals . 77 
Times of sowing. —To obtain a constant supply of good lettuce, it is ser¬ 
viceable to sow every month, from February (or the opening of spring) to 
July, for the main summer and autumn crops. For late autumn crops, you 
may sow in August, and if you have hot-beds, frames, &c., you may sow in 
September, and so on, through the fall and winter. Early spring lettuce 
may be sowed so late in the fall as not to come up till spring. 
Process of sowing. —Abercrombie says, “ The ground should have been 
broken in the previous digging. Sow broad-cast, moderately thin; rake in 
lightly, and very even . 77 Others direct to sow in drills, from a foot to six¬ 
teen inches apart. Armstrong observes, that “ the straight-leafed sort is 
best cultivated in broad-cast, and does not require transplanting; but that 
the curled and head-lettuce cannot succeed without it . 77 
Management of the summer crop. —“ In the successive crops, raised from 
the opening of spring till the close of summer, when the plants reach about 
two, three, or four inches 7 growth, they should be thinned; of those re¬ 
moved, let a requisite number be planted out, from a foot to fifteen inches 
asunder, to remain for cabbaging. Such as continue in the seed-beds mav 
be either gathered thinningly, in progressive stages, till the final reserve 
advance in close-heading; or, as they increase in size, be planted out at the 
square distance mentioned above, especially those designed to stand till of 
stocky growth. In dry weather, w’ater well at transplanting; also weed 
and hoe the beds thinned, and water them, if necessary. In the first head¬ 
ing-crop of Cos lettuces, when about three parts grown, and beginning to 
close the inner leaves, a number may be forwarded in cabbaging, by tying 
the leaves together, moderately close, with strings of bass; the remainder 
will head and whiten in due time, without this assistance. 
Crop raised on heat. —“For an accelerated crop, some may be sown in the 
beginning or middle of February, on a gentle hot-bed. When the plants are 
one or *wo inches high, in March or April, prick a portion either into a 
