i 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 191 



proach of frost, clip them close to the ground, and 

 cover the roots with dung or stable litter. They 

 require little if any other care, and will last many 

 years. 



LETTUCE (Lactuca). Of the native country of this 

 plant we are not sufficiently assured. Lamarck 

 thinks that the Quercina of Linnaeus (a product of 

 an island in the Baltic) is the type of the genus, 

 while Rozier regards the Scareola of the same au- 

 thor as entitled to that distinction. Of the known 

 species there are twenty-one ;* the most remarka- 

 ble of which are the Capitata, the Romana, and the 

 Spinosa. The first and second are found in all 

 kitchen gardens, while the third is rather a medici- 

 nal than a culinary plant, and principally useful for 

 its narcotic powers, which are said to be little in~ 

 ferior to those of opium. The varieties of the Cap- 

 itata and Romana have, by long culture, been mul- 

 tiplied to the number of one hundred and twenty, 

 and are separated by lines so nearly imperceptible 

 and so difficult to characterize, that botanists have 

 found it convenient to arrange them into series, the 

 principal of which are, 1st, the Head Lettuce ; 2d, 

 the Curled Lettuce ; and, 3d, the Lettuce with open, 

 straight, and erect leaves. These are again sub- 

 divided by gardeners, according to the season most 

 favourable to the plants respectively, as spring, 

 summer, fall, or winter lettuce; and as this view of 

 them is likely to be best known and most useful, 

 we shall employ it in what we have to say on the 

 subject. 



The varieties known by the names of the brown 

 Dutch, Capuchin green, and grand admiral (being 

 the most hardy), are those which should be sown 

 in the fall, to remain in the ground through the win- 

 ter, and vegetate early in the spring. If the soil be 



* Brisseau Mirbel. One of these species is American (Lac- 

 tuca Elongata of Dr. Muhlenberg). 



