GROWING LETTUCES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 281, 4 October 1889, Page 3

GROWING LETTUCES.

Many cultivators, amateurs especially, do not give lettuces anything like , fair treatment, as they more offlfn than not sow a pinch of seed in an out-of-the-way spot and ne. gleet to transplant till they are crowded together like mustard and cress. Better cut them and eat them as such, rather than waste time and space in trying to grow them to a presentable size . The plants for the earlist crops may be wintered on a sheltered border, or in frames, more be raised early in a box [o» frame, and to succeed these a sowing may be made on a warm border, but in every case the p!ants should either be pricked out or finally planted before they spoil each other. During the summer the less transplanting necessary

7%e greater the; certainty of a good crop* ; From the present time till tha middj? of January the seed is sown thinly where the plants are to be grown in small or greater quaniities according to tho .^demand, and at intefva s of about'oigbteißn days. The seedlings require to beftbinned, put jrradually to a distance of about 9 incbes ap.rt, any blanks being niade good by transplanting with a trowel On a narrow flat ridge between the Celery rows, writes an English gardener, two rows of Lettuces may be grown, and on a 4-fe^width, slightly reduced by slogi^lthe^sides,- I have frequently*' Md '& central row of Kidney Beans' and a row on each side of these of Lettuces. We grow Cabbage Lettuces for late autumn aud early spring supplies, but for the priucpal crops, rely, exclusively on the Cos va^fetesi notably any seedman's selected While Paris ; Cos and tbe Black ended 'Brown" (Cos. The latter is, on the whole, the best Let tuce I am aquyinted with, and is tb be recommended, not only on account of its hardiness but also because of its superior quality during the hot summer montlis. Sown at the same time as a Green or White Cos variety it wiil form a good sucession to them, is less liable to bolt quickly, and when the blanching is slightly 'assisted by tying it up, it may fairly be said to surprise those who have been in the lmbit of relying, on the more popular sorts. • 'No other sort strips so well or prove- so teuder and sweet.— -N. %• Farmer.