664 SALADS. 



and cutting over the plants when they are in the third and fourth leaf, 

 as is done with mustard and cress. 



To save seed, a few plants which have stood through the winter and 

 been transplanted into rich soil in spring, or some spring-sown plants, 

 may be allowed to run, and the seed will be ripe in August, and will 

 keep three years ; but as it is very difficult to save lettuce-seed in 

 wet seasons, it is an excellent method to grow a few plants in pots, in 

 good soil, one in each pot, and place them in front of a south wall, 

 moving them under glass shelter to ripen off, if the weather render it 

 necessary. Birds are very fond of lettuce-seed ; and the lettuce- fly 

 (Anthomyia Lactucae, Bouche) lays its eggs in the flower, the larvse pro- 

 duced by which live on the seed. 



Forcing. See page 521. 



The Endive. 



The Endive (Cichorium Endivia, L.) is a fusiform -rooted biennial, 

 said to be a native of China and Japan, but long cultivated in European 

 gardens for its leaves as salad. These are blanched to diminish the 

 bitter taste, and they are used chiefly in autumn, winter, and spring. 

 There are two principal varieties : the Batavian, or broad-leaved, 

 and the curled-leaved, of each of which there are a number of sub- 

 varieties, the best of them being probably the Digswell Prize, the Moss 

 Green, the White-curled, and the White Broad-leaved Batavian. As 

 the season for endive is from August till March or April, the first sowing 

 is made about the middle of June, the second about the end of that 

 month, the third in July, and the fourth in the beginning of August. 

 The plants are seldom raised where they are finally to remain (though 

 in very dry weather they succeed best by that mode), but generally in 

 seed-beds ; and for a bed four feet wide by ten feet in length, half 

 an ounce of seed is sufficient. When the plants attain three or four 

 leaves, they should be transplanted into rich soil, at one foot apart every 

 way ; and, as they are generally earthed up, to facilitate this process, 

 they may be planted in drills. The two latest crops for use during 

 winter and spring should be planted in a dry, warm border, on the 

 south side of an east-and-west ridge. 



Blanching. As the summer and autumn crops advance to maturity, 

 a portion should have the leaves tied up every ten days or fortnight, 

 to cause the hearts to blanch and become tender, crisp, and mild-tasted ; 

 but this ought not to be done till the plant is almost fully grown, for 

 blanched leaves can no longer add any strength to the root. This 

 operation ought only to be performed in dry days, and when the leaves 

 are quite dry ; and in winter, when the weather is dry without frost. 

 The mode of performance is as follows : When the plants are well 

 filled up in the heart, and apparently nearly fully grown, put your 

 fingers under the leaves which rest upon the ground, and gather the 

 whole plant up in your hands into a conical form ; then tie it round 

 with strands of matting, loose during summer, but tighter late in 

 autumn and in winter, when the plant grows more slowly ; arranging the 

 leaves so as to terminate in a point at the top, in order to prevent rain 



