CHAPTER XXIII. 

 LETTUCE. 



CABBAGE LETTUCE. Lactuca capitata. 



French, laitues pommees; German, kopfsalat; Dutch, kropsalad; Italian, 

 lattuga a cappucio ; Spanish, lechuga acogollada ; Portuguese, alf ace repolhada. 



Cos LETTUCE. Idem. 



French, laitues romaines; German, bind-salat; Dutch, roomsche latouw; 

 Italian, lattuga romana; Spanish, lechuga romana; Portuguese, alface 

 romana. 



Lettuce is emphatically a satisfactory garden plant in Califor- 

 nia. It is unaffected, except in slower growth, by the ordinary 

 winter temperatures of our valleys and foothills, and it endures the 

 heat, if moisture is adequate, with only slight protection from the 

 burning sun. It withers and dies or it becomes tough and worth- 

 less, in the face of drought, it is true, but any gardener who does 

 not arrange better for its growth does not deserve to enjoy its re- 

 freshing crispness. Whoever will provide the simplest arrange- 

 ment to relieve its roots from cold, standing water in winter, or 

 who will keep its roots moist and afford slight shade for its tender 

 leaves from the interior heat in summer, need never miss a day of 

 lettuce-gathering. And even these slight aids from the grower are 

 not needed everywhere. In regions naturally moderate, both in 

 moisture and heat, and with a few weeks of watering in midsum- 

 mer, succession of lettuce is unbroken throughout the year on any 

 good garden soil which is well cultivated. There is little lettuce 

 forcing in California, and, of course, with such natural conditions, 

 there is small need of any, and yet during recent years, owing to 

 the constant demand for lettuce all the year, because of the in- 

 creased importance of salads in the menu, there has arisen new 

 opportunity for forcing and shipment of lettuce considerable dis- 

 tances by rail has advanced notably during the last decade. In 

 central California cities during the season of heaviest rains it is 

 hard to get bright, clean lettuce from local market gardens and 

 much is brought from southern California, where there is less rain 

 and more winter sunshine. In addition to such movement within 

 the state, about 1500 carloads are annually shipped beyond state 

 lines. From Imperial county during March and April about 500 

 carloads and from Los Angeles and Orange counties from November 

 to June about 1000 carloads are shipped. This product is distributed 

 through eastern states and Canada. In addition to the foregoing, 

 which is estimated to occupy about a thousand acres, there are per- 

 haps five hundred acres in commercial lettuce growing in the dis- 

 tricts of San Francisco, Sacramento and Stockton. All of this is 



[199] 



