LETTUCE. 



307 



tlie beginning of the seventeenth century, it was 

 introduced into France. The author of " Le 

 Jardinier Fran9oi3," who was a practical as well 

 as theoretical gardener, assigns to his own exer- 

 tions its first cultivation in the French gardens. 

 Scorzonera is at present much more used on the 

 continent than in this country; its medicinal 

 virtues are now, however, but little regarded. 



This plant is a hardy perennial, with a. stem 

 from two to three feet long, and having yellow 

 flowers, which continue to bloom from June to 

 August. The lower leaves, which are linear and 

 pointed, are about eight or nine inches in length. 

 The root is thin and spindle-shaped, covered 

 with a dark brown skin, but white within, and 

 containing a milky juice. 



Though tlie plants are perennial, producing 

 offsets from the crown of the root, it is better to 

 propagate from seeds, in the same manner in 

 which carrots are cultivated, since the offsets de- 

 generate from year to year, both in size and 

 quality. The roots, like those of parsnips, re- 

 main uninjured in the gi'ound throughout the 

 winter, and till they begin to put out fresh 

 leaves in the spring. The whole plant is some- 

 what bitter. To divest the roots of that quality, 

 they are scraped, and then steeped in water pre- 

 viously to their being made to undergo any cu- 

 linary process. 



Lettuce (lactuca sativa). This plant also 

 belongs to the family compositse. It is a hardy 

 annual, introduced into English gardens in 1562, 

 but from what country is unknown. Some con- 

 sider it derived from one of the three species na- 

 tive to Britain, most probably from lactuca vi- 

 rosa, which it closely resembles. 



The leaves are large, milky, frequently 

 wrinkled, pale gi'een, but varying in form in the 

 numerous varieties. The general name lactuca 

 is derived from the milky j uice which it contains. 

 This juice possesses a slightly narcotic principle, 

 which is in general elaborated only in small 

 quantities during the early stages of the plant, 

 but increases greatly as that advances towards 

 flowering. This juice is very bitter, and when 

 it becomes abundant, the plant ceases to be use- 

 ful. 



The absolute quantity and strength of the 

 opiate portion of the juice most probably varies 

 both with the variety of the plant and with the 

 soil on which it is produced. In the strong- 

 scented wild lettuce (lactuca virosa) the narco- 

 tic juice is so abundant, and so acrid in itself, or 

 so mixed with other acrid principles, as almost 

 to brhig the plant within the class of vegetable 

 poisons. 



The narcotic principle of lettuce-juice has been 

 long familiarly known. It is only very recently, 

 however, that this juice, inspissated, or the ex- 

 tract of lettuce, has found a place among our 

 pharmaceutic preparations, under the name of 



Lactucarium. It is supposed to possess, though 

 in an inferior degree, the virtues of opium, with- 

 out producing the same deleterious effects ; and 

 therefore it is held that it may be safely admin- 

 istered in cases where the more powerful medi- 

 cine is not desirable, or even admissible. 



As soon as the flower-stems have attained a 

 considerable size and height, but before the 

 flowers begin to expand, a portion of the top is 

 cut oft' transversely. This operation is performed 

 when the sun has excited the plants into power- 

 ful action. The milky juice quickly exudes 

 from the wound, while the heat of the sun ren- 

 ders it immediately so viscid, that it does not 

 flow down in a fluid state, but concretes around 

 the part whence it issues, forming a brownish 

 scale, about the size of a sixpence. When it has 

 acquired the proper consistence it is removed, 

 and as the inspissated juice closes up the extre- 

 mities of the divided vessels, it is necessary to 

 cut off another small piece of the stem ; this 

 causes the escape of the juice again, and another 

 scale is formed. The same process is repeated as 

 long as the weather is favourable, or the plant 

 will yield any juice. 



Under so variable an atmosphere as that of 

 Britain, a crop of this kind must be precarious, 

 unless in those places where there is generally a 

 week or two of settled drought about the warmest 

 period of the year, and where the cultivator has 

 sufficient local knowledge for enabling him to 

 time the state of his plants accordingly. Mr 

 Henderson, the Brechin cultivator, an intelligent 

 and experienced horticiilturist, states, that in 

 favourable years the lettuce-opium, notwith- 

 standing the trouble of collecting it, is much 

 more profitable than any other crop that comes 

 to maturity in so short a time, upon the same 

 breadtli of land. 



Turner mentions the lettuce as being, in 1652, 

 not a rare or recently cultivated plant, but one 

 with which the public generally had been long 

 familiar. In the privy-purse expenses of Hemy 

 VIII., in 1530, we find that tlie gardener at 

 York Place received a reward for bringing "let- 

 tuze" and clierries to Hampton Court. Al- 

 though it cannot now be definitely ascertained 

 when or how this plant was first introduced into 

 England, wo are no doubt indebted for some of 

 its varieties to the Greek islands. The Cos let- 

 tuce, as its name indicates, is a native of the 

 island of Cos, and was most probably brought 

 thence into this country. 



The culture of this plant is so simple, and it 

 requires so little space, that a garden of the most 

 humble dimensions is seldom found without hav- 

 ing a small nook appropriated to this cooling and 

 agreeable vegetable. There are many varieties 

 of the lettuce, very nearly twenty being enu- 

 merated as objects worthy of garden culture, and 

 each of them differing somewhat in colour, shape. 



