Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/102

 dressing of manure in the fall, and suitable poles to climb upon. These poles should be good strong ones, at least 8 to 10 feet in height. About the last of August or first of September the vines should be cut off near the ground and the poles pulled up, so that the crop may be gathered. There is an old saying that “the September winds should never be allowed to blow on the hops.” The hops should be spread on sheets and placed in some cool, airy garret or loft, to dry. It will take five or six good poles to make a bushel of hops. This is generally known as salad, which is a misnomer, as salad nicans 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