LETTUCE. 359 



One of the oldest and most esteemed of the Tennis-ball. 



Cabbage Lettuces. The head is below medium BUTTON. CAPU- 

 CHIN. HARDY 



size, dark green, remarkably solid if grown in HAMM ERS> TH - 

 cool weather, but often loose and open-hearted 

 if cultivated during the summer months ; the surplus leaves 

 are few in number, deep green, slightly curled, and broadly, 

 but not prominently, blistered ; the seeds of the genuine 

 variety are black. 



The Tennis-ball Lettuce is remarkable for its extreme 

 hardiness. Winter-grown plants, or those raised in cool, 

 moist weather, will measure about ten inches in diameter, 

 and weigh eight ounces ; whilst those raised under oppo- 

 site conditions rarely exceed seven or eight inches in diam- 

 eter, or weigh more than four or five ounces. 



It is slow in running to seed, and the head blanches white 

 and tender. " It requires little room in frames in winter, 

 and yields a great return in spring, as almost the ' whole 

 plant is eatable." A large Cabbage Lettuce, tinted with 

 brown about the head, is erroneously known in some lo- 

 calities as the " Tennis-ball." 



Similar to the Imperial Head ; the principal Turkey Cab- 

 if not only difference consisting in the color of 

 the seeds, which are black. 



Head pale yellowish-green, large, long, and Versailles, 

 compactly formed ; the exterior leaves are SWEDISH. BLOND 



VERSAILLES. 



large, numerous, wrinkled, and coarsely blis- SUGAR-LETTUCE. 

 tered. When in its greatest perfection, the extreme diam- 

 eter of the whole plant is about fourteen inches, and its 

 weight twelve or fourteen ounces. The seeds are white. 



This variety forms its head quickly and uniformly ; cab- 

 bages white and crisp ; is slow in shooting up to seed ; 

 flourishes in almost every description of soil, and at all 



