1869.] BOILED LETTUCE. 83 



The flowers of nasturtium (red and yellow), the petals of roses, and the leaves of 

 common parsley, are all salad materials of the highest order, and give quite a 

 new character to the contents of the salad bowl. But to return to our more 

 immediate subject, the Boiled Lettuce, 



Herbs blanched, as Celery, Endive, and Lettuce, are already popular enough, 

 and if it be granted that they are good when eaten raw — and no one will call 

 this in question — it is just possible that in clever hands they might be as good, 

 if not better, when boiled. I have supplied celery for boiling as a "vegetable " 

 twenty years ago, and I only mention it now to show that the boiling business 

 has already set in among our salad herbs, and in all simplicity to state my belief 

 that the practice might be extended with very great benefit to the poor man. 

 The late hot and dry summer gave everybody a relish for salad herbs and cool 

 dishes, and unfortunately the lack of moisture seriously restricted the supply. 

 It is therefore a good time now to turn our dearly-bought experience to account, 

 and not only to grow Lettuce more abundantly than Ave have hitherto done, but 

 to grow it for a different end, and after a different fashion. 



Under ordinary circumstances, Lettuces are reckoned unfit for table unless 

 they are fully grown and well blanched, but it is very far otherwise with 

 Lettuces that are grown for boiling. If they stand thick enough upon the 

 ground, whether blanched or not, provided they are big enough, nothing more is 

 needed ; and although all sorts of Lettuces will do for boiling, Cos Lettuces alone 

 should be grown for that purpose. All the tying-up will be done away with, and 

 much less space will be wanted to bring the same number of plants to maturity 

 than has till now been required. It therefore amounts to the introduction of an 

 entirely new vegetable into our dietary, and, moreover, one of the most tender in 

 quality as well as one of the most easily cultivated. When once the prejudice 

 which unfortunately exists among a certain class against all novelties, has been 

 got over, we may hope to see a railway porter with his patch of Lettuce by the 

 side of the " line," not for the purpose of being eaten as a salad herb, but to 

 accompany bacon, mutton, or beef, as the larger half of a good dinner. 



When supplied with plenty of manure and moisture, Lettuces rush up rapidly, 

 and therefore frequent sowings will be necessary to ensure a regular supply. By 

 growing the plants in seed-pans or boxes under shelter in spring, and by trans- 

 planting and watering, four crops may be got in the year off the same ground ; 

 and he will be but a poor tiller of the soil, that cannot get at least two crops a 

 year off the same land, by sowing the seeds where they are to remain without 

 transplanting. Each crop will yield a very great weight of food, for in the 

 case of Lettuces for the pot, it is all eatable that stands above ground ; there is 

 no waste. A pinch of the seed of the value of one penny will suffice to sow a 

 bed 9 feet long and 4 J feet wide. About 16 plants should be grown on every 

 square foot, but I need not enlarge upon the way that a bed of broad-cast 

 Lettuces should be cultivated ; for if they are well sowed on a firm, level bed, 



