Who does not welcome with a cheerful satisfaction the first crisp heads
of lettuce that grace our tables in early spring? If any there be among
our readers who do not feel like rubbing their hands in gleeful
complacency as the tender, succulent leaves, nicely folded over each
other in delicate whiteness, are placed before them, they had better
pass this page by; it will have no interest for them. But those who know
how to enjoy a good head of lettuce after the long winter, may derive
some pleasure by reading on, even if they do not find anything
instructive to them in this short chapter about a very common, plain,
simple, vegetable.
Those who wish to have nice early lettuce will sow the seed in this
month of September, not later than the middle of the month. Having
selected a bit of ground that is thoroughly drained, and in good heart;
it should be spaded and pulverized in the usual manner, so as to be
light and porous, and perfectly friable, and the seed sown in drills.
The extent of the sowing will depend upon the number of heads one wishes
to winter over. In about a month the lettuce plants will be ready for
transplanting into the beds in which they are to pass the winter.
The bed in which the plants are to pass the winter in this climate, is
what gardeners term a cold frame. This bed should be of good, rich soil,
well pulverized, located in some place sheltered—a spot sheltered by
buildings, or tight board fence—from the cold, bleak winds of winter
and early spring, yet exposed to the south, so that it may feel the
first warm breath of the south wind, and enjoy all the sunlight as the
days begin to lengthen. As a sash is usually about three feet wide and
six long, a frame of boards should be set up on the bed by running two
boards, set on edge, parallel to each other, and nearly three feet apart
so that the sash may rest on them; and a board at the back ten or twelve
inches wide, and another at the front seven or eight inches wide, to
give the sash sufficient pitch to carry off the rain and catch to the
best advantage the rays of the sun. These boards can be held in their
places by nailing them to posts placed in the corners. In a sash of this
size, five or six hundred lettuce plants can be safely wintered. That
will be quite sufficient for the wants of a family of the average
number; those who require more can increase the number of sashes.
The cold frame should be ready to receive the plants by the middle of
October. By this time the lettuce plants will be ready for
transplanting, and may be set in the frame two inches apart each way. Of
course they will need a little attention to see that they do not suffer
for want of water, or from weeds springing up among them. When winter
approaches, they will need to be protected by covering with the sash at
night, and when the weather becomes very cold it will some of the time
be necessary to leave the sash on all day. The plants are sufficiently
hardy, if properly treated, to endure twenty degrees of frost—that is,
they will not perish if not exposed to a lower temperature than twelve
degrees, Fahrenheit. But in order to enable them to endure that
temperature safely, they should be abundantly aired on every mild day by
lifting up the sash at the back, and keeping it tilted up while the
weather will admit, and closing it only when necessary. On fine days the
sash should be drawn off altogether, and the plants exposed as fully as
possible, unless, indeed, the thermometer indicate too great a degree of
cold. In this way the plants will be kept hardy and vigorous, able to
endure the changes of temperature with no other covering than the sash,
even though the thermometer outside the frame falls to zero. In those
parts of the country where the cold is much below zero, it will be
necessary to add a straw mat to the covering of sash.
When the spring has opened, and the ground become quite settled and in
condition for working, a bed should be prepared and the lettuce plants
transplanted into it about twenty inches apart each way. Some fifty of
them may be allowed to remain in the frame at a suitable distance apart,
and by covering them with the sash at night, and when the weather is
cold, forced, so as to make fine heads very much sooner than those in
the open ground. If one wishes, a few frames may be prepared in the
fall, and filled with leaves or any coarse litter that will prevent the
soil in them from freezing, and when the weather becomes mild in the
early spring the litter can be taken out, the soil forked over and
enriched, and about fifty lettuce plants transplanted into each of these
frames, covered with sash, and forced so as to be fit for use by the
time the remaining plants can be set out in the open ground.
The variety of lettuce that seems to give the best satisfaction for
early spring, is the one found in our seed stores under the name of
Gardeners’ Favorite. It not only forces well, making large, solid heads,
but is exceedingly crisp and tender. For a late crop, we have found no
variety that will stand the heat of summer better than Bruce’s
Nonpareil; besides, it is very tender, and heads well.
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