This is generally known as salad, which is a misnomer, as _salad_
means anything that is served in a green state; it may be onions,
tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, or anything of that kind. By general usage
the word salad has been appropriated to the lettuce, as the latter is
the plant most frequently grown in this country for salad. But call it
whichever you like, it is one of the greatest additions to our tables,
and in our kitchen garden it should not be made a side issue of a week
or two in the spring, but should be raised in the finest condition
possible throughout the season, and by using the hotbeds and cold
frames it is possible to have it the whole year round.
To raise head lettuce in perfection the greatest care must be taken
to reserve the very best and tightest heads for seed, or if the seed
is to be purchased select the hardest-heading varieties. For the
earliest planting the seed should be sown in the hotbed and have the
same treatment as its associate, the cabbage; the young plants should
not be allowed to stand too thickly; they should be at least an inch
apart in the seed bed, or be transplanted to that distance when half
an inch high. When the cabbage is set out, one or two lettuce plants
may be set between each pair of cabbages in the row, according to the
distance the cabbages are apart. There must be space enough between the
plants to give the soil a good stirring with the hoe around each plant,
as thorough cultivation is essential to the best development of both
cabbage and lettuce. A second lot of seed should be planted when the
tomatoes and egg plants are sown; these can be set out in the garden
as soon as they are large enough to handle. The third sowing should be
made in the open garden when the first planting is done, and the young
seedlings should be transplanted as soon as the plants are large enough
and before they begin to be crowded in the row, as this last sowing
will not form heads without it receives the best of care. These three
sowings are about all that can be depended upon to make hard heads,
unless it can be planted in some rich, shady corner, and carefully
nursed with the watering pot.
[Illustration: PERPETUAL LETTUCE.]
About the first or middle of May a sowing should be made of the
“Perpetual Lettuce,” and the plants, when large enough, should be
transplanted and treated the same as the head lettuce; it will not
form tight heads, but produces a fine bunch of broad, yellowish-green
leaves, which are very crisp and delicate, not being strong and bitter,
as most lettuces are in hot weather. This lettuce will stand from four
to six weeks without running to seed, so that if plantings are made
about once a month it can be had in perfection throughout the balance
of the season. If the head lettuce is more particularly desired, a
sowing should be made about the first of August, and another about the
fifteenth; the young plants should be transplanted and treated in the
same manner for heading as is followed in the spring; the first sowing
will not produce heads unless the latter part of August and the first
part of September be cool and moist; but you are almost sure to have
fine heads from the second sowing. Personally, I prefer the Perpetual,
both for its fine qualities and the ease of growing it.
Another way, and the easiest, to have a constant succession of lettuce
for the table throughout the season, is to sow the seed thickly in
drills and to cut the loose leaves close to the ground when it is three
or four inches high; this produces rather narrow leaves, which are very
tender and juicy, but which have not the substance of those grown as
separate plants or heads, and are not so easily prepared for the table.
These sowings can be made every few weeks, and a constant succession of
young leaves be had for use throughout the entire season. It should be
the object in sowing lettuce to plant small lots frequently, that it
may always be had in the best condition.
About the second week in September a sowing of some early hard-heading
variety should be made, and a succeeding one about the first of
October; from these two sowings the cold frames should be planted,
about one-third from the first and two-thirds from the second; the
plants should be set about six inches apart each way, which will allow
about fifty plants to each sash. When cold weather comes the sash
should be put on, and the outsides of the frames banked around with
long stable manure. The plants must be treated to plenty of fresh
air whenever the weather will permit of it, and on very cold nights
the sash should be reinforced with a covering of straw, old mats,
or carpet. The lettuce grown in these frames is apt to be infested
with the small insect known as the “Green Fly;” to prevent or to get
rid of the presence of this pest, tobacco refuse and sweepings from
a cigar-maker’s shop should be strewn on the soil under the leaves;
this will destroy the fly and act as a fertilizer, but if too much is
applied it will spoil the delicate flavor of the lettuce.
If a few very early cabbages are desired, the seed should be sown about
the first of October and transplanted with the lettuce into the cold
frames; planting them about two inches apart each way; if these are in
good condition and the spring favorable, they can be planted out about
the 15th of March, and will produce heads one to two weeks earlier than
those raised in the hotbeds.