LETTUCE. 185 



ties. The roots are dried, roast'.d as coffee, ground and mixed in the 

 proportion of 2 oz. to a pound of coffee. The wild succory contains a 

 milky juice, used by physicians as a tonic and aperient. When, 

 blanched the bitterness is diminished. Chickory or similar plants 

 constitute half the food of the Egyptians. Endive is probably derived 

 from Arabia. The seeds are sown in drills in July, 6 inches apart 

 and well weeded. The roots are taken up in winter, and packed in 

 layers in a warm cellar, the crown of the roots being exposed, when in 

 a few days they afford young leaves abundantly. 



The varieties cultivated are the green, curled-leaf, white and broad- 

 leaf. The 1st is best for main crops in autumn and winter; the 2d 

 for spring, and the 3d is best for soups and stews. an oz. of seed is 

 required for a bed 4 feet by 10. May is a proper season for a small 

 early crop, and June and July for a principal crop. Late supplies 

 may be sown in August. The soil should be rich, mellow and exposed. 

 The seed is thinly sown and raked in ; and the plants, when 1 or 2 in- 

 ches high, are thinned ; when 5 or 6 inches high they are transplant- 

 ed into prepared soil, and placed in shallow drills, 15 inches apart, 

 with the plants 10 or 12 inches assunder. Water at planting, and if 

 dry, once in 10 days afterwards ; trim the ends of the leaves, and 

 shorten the tap-roots. Plant som 1st of Sept., on a bank of light dry 

 soil, a foot high, sloping south, to remain dry during winter. Some of 

 the crop, with full leaves, may be tied up weekly, in dry weather, 

 with strips in the middle to blanch. The Batavian variety is best for 

 this. They blanch in 8 or 10 days ; or 2 shingles may be set down, 

 which, meeting at top, exclude the light, and thus blanch them. In 

 winter they are covered with litter. Some strong old plants are raised 

 in March for seed. 



The root of chicory cut, dried, roasted and ground, is an article of 

 commerce as a substitute for the adulteration of coffee ; and this is 

 adulterated with roasted peas, beans, grains, coffee-husks, &c. ; it is 

 preferred by some to coffee. The Venetian bole is used for coloring 

 it. The fresh root is tonic, and in large doses, aperient. It has been 

 used in the form of a decoction for chronic, visceral and cutaneous dis- 

 eases, torpor of the liver, &c. 



There are 5 species ofChicorium, viz. Wild Endive or Succory, Com- 

 mon Endive, Prickley Endive, &c C. Endivia flower stalks axillary, 

 in pairs, with single flower and the other 4-flowered ; leaves oblong, 

 somewhat toothed, alternate, runciate ; flowers blue. 



LETTUCE, latuca sativa, C. 19. O. 1., Composite, sp. 19-26. A. 3 



ft from lac, on account of its milky juice, but corrupted by the En- 



lish to lettuce. It is a native of most parts of the world, but the best 

 was originally from Egypt, Aleppo and Cos, from which island the up- 

 right lettuce takes its name. It is cooling and soporific, and in 



