LEICESTER SHEEP. 



LETTUCE. 



great variety of useful and beautiful species, 

 some of which, like clover, lucern, sainfoin, 

 and vetches, are cultivated for cattle ; others, 

 as beans, peas, lentils, and various other kinds 

 of pulse, form part of the food of man. Indigo, 

 logwood, and many more, are well-known dye- 

 ing plants: several acacias produce gum; cer- 

 tain Astragali yield tragacanth ; the tamarind 

 and others bear pods whose interior is filled 

 with an agreeable pulp; Cassia acutifolia and 

 other species of cassia yield senna; Glycyrrhiza, 

 the liquorice-root; Ceratoiiia, the wild locust 

 fruits of Scripture : finally, many are valuable 

 tonics, and some are dangerous narcotics, 

 among which the common laburnum is to be 

 named. 



Leguminous crops, according to the strict 

 agricultural acceptation, include beans, peas, 

 and other pulse. But the class is made to em- 

 brace a much more extensive range of plants, 

 namely, all such as are considered as ameliorat- 

 ing or enriching crops, such as clover, potatoes, 

 turnips, carrots, beets, cabbages, &c. These 

 latter are far less exhausting than the culmife- 

 rous or grain plants, as few of them mature 

 their seeds, and all, on account of their broad 

 leaves, draw more or less nourishment from 

 the atmosphere. They also ameliorate the 

 condition of the soil, by dividing and loosening 

 it with their tap and bulbous roots. As they 

 generally receive manure and drill culture, 

 they are peculiarly adapted to enrich and pre- 

 pare the soil for the culmiferous crops. 

 LEICESTER SHEEP. See SHEEP. 

 LENTICULAR. A botanical term, signify 

 ing lens or pea-shaped. 



LENTIL (Ervum Lens, from trw, tilled land 

 in Celtic ; some of the species arc a pest in 

 cultivated ground, being useless and loo prolific 

 weeds). PI. 7, 9. An exotic plant of the vetch 

 or tare kind, cultivated in some parts of Eng- 

 land as fodder for cattle. The lentil is an an- 

 nual, growing to the height of about eighteen 

 inches, with stalks and leaves like those of 

 tares, but smaller, and producing pale purple 

 flowers, which are succeeded by small flat pods 

 containing two or three round, hard, smooth 

 and flat seeds. There are two 'sorts of lentil 

 the white and the yellow; but the latter affords 

 the greater quantity of fodder. The seeds of this 

 plant are generally sown in March or April, in 

 the proportion of one and a half to two bushels 

 per acre. Lentils also furnish good dry fodder 

 for cattle, and particularly for cutting into chaff 

 as trough-meal for sheep and horses. 



LETTUCE (Lactuca, from lac, milk, on ac- 

 count of the milky juice which exudes from 

 the plants when broken). There are in Eng- 

 land three indigenous species of lettuce, all 

 biennials. 



1. Strong-scented lettuce (L. tn'rosa), which 

 grows about hedges, old walls, and the borders 

 of fields on a chalky soil, not uncommon. The 

 whole herb abounds with an acrid, fetid, milky 

 juice, having the smell of opium, but only 

 slightly narcotic, and little likely to produce the 

 consequences attending the use of that drug. 

 This juice springs out suddenly in large drops, 

 on the slightest touch, from the calyx and ten- 

 der leaves, when the plant is in flower, but not 

 at other times; evincing a considerable degree 



f irritability in the plant. The root is tap- 

 shaped. Stem solitary, two or three feet high, 

 round, smooth, sparingly leafy, scarcely branch- 

 ed, panicled at ihe lop, a little prickly below. 

 Leaves horizontal, nearly smooth, finely toothed, 

 radical ones numerous, obovate, undivided, de- 

 pressed. Flowers numerous, panicled, light- 

 yellow. 



2. Prickly lettuce (L. scariola). This species 

 is found in waste ground, and dry, stony bor- 

 ders of fields. The whole herb is glaucous, 

 milky, bitter, but less fetid than the preceding. 

 Stem two or three feet high, leafy, panicled. 

 Leaves numerous, vertical, not horizontal, va- 

 riously pinnatifid and toothed ; thin midrib fur- 

 nished with a close row of prominent prickles, 

 their base clasping the stem. Flowers small, 

 pale lemon-coloured. * 



3. Least lettuce (L. saligna). This species 

 grows in chalky waste ground, or about salt 

 marshes. The whole plant is very slender. 

 Stem about two feet high, wavy, pale-brown or 

 whitish, somewhat branched, leafy throughout. 

 Leaves glaucous, smooth except the midrib 

 beneath, linear, hastate or pinnatifid, entire, 

 sessile. Flowers in small alternate tufts com- 

 posing long clusters, very small, pale-yellow, 

 open in sunshine only, and soon fading. (Smith's 

 Eng. Flor. vol. iii. p. 344.) 



Of the well-known cultivated lettuce (Z* ga- 

 tivu) there are many varieties, which are di- 

 vided into families, the cos and the cabbage. 

 The first are more grown in summer than win- 

 ter; the second at all seasons, but more usually 

 in winter, on account of their superior hardi- 

 hood. The cos varieties are characterized by 

 being of an upright growth, and, with the ex- 

 ception of the Brighton, require to have their 

 leaves drawn together for blanching; the cab- 

 bage, as growing close to the ground, produces 

 a blanched heart, in the manner of a cabbage, 

 without any assistance. The cilicias are of a 

 nature intermediate between the two. When 

 young, the cabbage varieties are in general 

 sweeter than those of the cos at the same age ; 

 but at full growth this is reversed : hence the 

 latter are preferred for salads, and the former 

 for soups. 



The cabbage varieties succeed better in a 

 hotbed than the cos. 



The following varieties are recommended 

 for cultivation in England ; but as some of 

 them have been found not to succeed well in 

 this country, those enumerated in the article 

 KITCHEN GARDEN had better be depended on 

 for the main crop. 



CABBAGE VARIETIES. 



Drumheaded. 



Brown Dutch. 3 



Tennisball. 



Hardy green, or Capuchin. 



Prussian. 



Prince's. 



Common white. 



Large white. 



Imperial. 



Grand admirable. 



Large Roman. 



Lettuces thrive best in a light, rich soil, with 

 a dry substratum. In a poor or tenacious one 

 they never attain any considerable size, but run 

 to seed prematurely. Like most other crops, 

 that soil is to be preferred which is rich rather 



707 



COS VARIETIES. 



Brighton. 



Black-seeded green. 



Early Egyptian. 



Green. 



White or Versailles. 



Silver. 



Spotted or leopard. 



Green and brown Cilicia. 



Lop. 



