Lettuce.
Both the Cabbage and the Cos, or Long Lettuce, can be sown out of doors in little patches from March to August. First rake the soil very smooth and fine, and then, if you wish to have a big bed of Lettuces, draw lines an inch deep and a yard long, about ten inches apart. Sow your seed in these little ruts and rake your bed smooth, taking care that the seed is only lightly covered with soil. You will soon see lines of pale-green seedlings, but you will not have a single Lettuce if you don’t keep off slugs. They are so fond of Lettuces that gardeners often plant them as traps amongst Dahlias and other flowers they wish to preserve. The slugs will desert everything else for Lettuces, and can be caught in numbers on and around them at night. So if you have a sluggy garden you must catch all the slugs you can, and also dust your seedlings with soot or wood-ash. The proper time to do this is after sunset, when the leaves are a little damp with dew. When the Lettuces begin to grow up, the slugs will leave them alone, and then the rain will wash away the slight dust of ash or soot from the outside leaves.
When you have rescued your Lettuces from slugs, you must thin them severely. This is most important. You wait to do this until they are big enough to handle easily, and then you leave nine inches between each Lettuce and its neighbour in your rows. The French use the small, thinned-out Lettuces as salad mixed with Cress; and if they were washed they would be nice with bread and butter for tea—at least, they would if you had not been obliged to dust them with soot or wood-ashes. Cabbage Lettuces do not require tying, and are ready to cut when they have a firm heart of folded, crinkled leaves like little Cabbages. Some kinds of Cos Lettuce require tying, but not all. Sutton’s Superb White Cos does just as well, or better, without this extra trouble. But we think some of the good self-folding cabbage kinds are more suitable in a small garden. Mammoth White, Nonsuch, and All the Year Round are good kinds. Lettuces are more tender when they are grown quickly. It is best to sow a few at a time about once a fortnight all the summer, because they must be eaten when they are ready. If they are allowed to stand, they bolt—that is to say, they shoot up tall and begin to grow flowers. Then their leaves become tough and bitter, and they are spoiled for salad.