THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
I recommend it as one of the most easily cultivated 
and most prolific of the vegetables, to be used for 
salads or greens. It lives through the winter with- 
out covering, and its stalks are very much like those 
of rhubarb or pieplant. Most country homes may 
also have endive, and where there is water or a 
brook, watercress. 
The improvement in lettuces has been remark- 
able for the last twenty-five years. The introduc- 
tion of the curled and the black-seeded Simpson 
marked a long stride ahead. Then came the Han- 
son, which is still exceedingly popular. I do not, 
however, know of a single variety that is better, for 
those who are not professional gardeners, than the 
Mignonette. It is a quick grower, generally com- 
ing up of itself the second season and forming 
little heads about as big as your fist. It is delicious 
in quality. The Denver Market, and the large 
Boston, and the White Tennis Ball, and the Grand 
Rapids, are all superb sorts. One of the best for 
forcing is the Stonehead Golden Yellow. I grow 
most of my lettuces around the compost piles, 
where the soil becomes exceedingly rich. 
Salsify, or vegetable oyster, like the onion, may 
perhaps be better bought than grown, yet I always 
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