LETTUCE 



271 



to intervals of 6 inches in the row, filling the trench with earth as 

 the plants develop ; (2) by sowing the seed in drills 1 5 or 18 inches 

 apart, i inch deep, the same as onion seed, and banking earth against 

 the plants as they develop. The young plants grown in the seed 

 bed can be transplanted either to trenches or to level soil, the 

 method to be followed in any case depending upon the texture of 

 the soil, the rainfall, and the drainage. It will be best, however, 

 to test each method of culture to determine the one* best suited 

 to a particular soil and given conditions. 



High quality in this plant is obtained by vigorous growth and 

 careful blanching. Seeds sown in the open in early spring should 

 give a product for autumn use. An early crop can be obtained by 

 sowing the seeds in a hotbed and transplanting the young plants 

 to the open as soon as good growing conditions obtain. For winter 

 use the plants should be lifted at the approach of freezing weather 

 and stored in sand in a cool root cellar. 



Uses. The chief use of the leek is for flavoring soups, salads, and 

 stews, although the blanched stalks are sometimes boiled and served 

 with a cream or butter dressing the same as onions and asparagus. 



LETTUCE 



Botany. Lettuce, known to botanists as Lactuca sativa, is the 

 most important of the economic salad plants grown in America. 

 It is represented in the United 

 States by a wild form, a weed 

 of considerable importance in 

 some sections of the country. 

 This "wild lettuce," Lactuca 

 scariola, possesses many char- 

 acteristics common to the culti- 

 vated form, and some botanists 

 consider the two plants identical. 

 The two intercross readily, thus 



Showing their close kinship. FlG . 99 . Head lettuce, var. capitate, 



Whatever the parentage of these 



plants, it is certain that the hand of man has worked miracles 



with the one which has been subjected to selection and cultivation. 



