Quality Lettuces for the Home Garden— By l. and e. m. Barron 



New 

 York 



THE SECOND OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES BY TWO CONNOISSEURS IN WHICH THE ATTENTION IS CONSTANTLY FOCUSED 

 UPON QUALITY FROM THREE POINTS OF VIEW HITHERTO ABSURDLY DIVORCED, VIZ., VARIETIES, CULTIVATION, COOKING 



With illustrations kindly furnished by the U. S. Department of Agriculture 



WITH more than a hundred really dis- 

 tinct varieties (which are known in 

 the trade under fully three times as many 

 names) the amateur gardener may well stand 

 aghast in the confusion when he wants to 

 select one or two best lettuces for home use. 

 Assuming that a wise selection of the vari- 

 ety has been made in the first place, quality 

 in lettuce depends upon the plants being 

 grown ahead without a check, and in their 

 being served at the table when fresh and 

 full of water. A flagged lettuce is a bad 

 lettuce. Take that as an axiom; and if 

 you want to preserve the best that is in any 

 variety, keep the cut heads cool, and in a 

 place where the air is not drying. The 



Butter bunching. Leaves tender, generally pale 

 or yellowish green. The highest quality in lettuces 

 is found in the butter varieties. (Lancaster, medium 

 quality, but grows well under shade, in the South) 



Crisp bunching. Leaves hard and generally 

 strong flavored. Good for shipping. Grand Rapids, 

 one of the ten most largely grown varieties, chiefly 

 for forcing. Poor quality outdoors 



proper time to cut the heads is in the early 

 morning, before the exhausting heat of the 

 sun has had time to lower the water content ; 

 failing this, gather in the evening, after 

 sundown, rather than in the middle of the 

 day. But gather at any time, rather than go 

 without lettuce for salad. 



The lettuce is a cool weather plant, and 

 does not thrive in the South, except for early 

 crops along the coast. It demands a moist, 

 loose open soil, in which its roots can travel 

 freely. Water it must have in abundance, 

 but a constantly water-logged soil is bad. 



The grand fact about lettuce is that it 

 will grow on almost any soil. For exact 

 results, you should sow the seed in a bed of 

 fine soil, or in a frame for early crop, trans- 

 planting as needed. We have a habit of 

 dropping a few lettuce seeds into odd spaces 

 anywhere in the garden, and so always have 

 plenty of young plants available. If they are 

 not needed, the loss is nothing. When 

 transplanted, set at twelve inches apart. 



Another way is to sow thickly, and thin out 

 as the plants develop, using the thinnings 

 as salad, even from the very first. These 

 very young plants are a toothsome delicacy. 



The quickest growing lettuces, such as 

 Tennis Ball White Seeded, a butter heading 

 kind, mature in about 55 days; the latest 

 require 85 to 90 days. But the majority of 

 the popular kinds are intermediate, and 

 mature in about 70 to 75 days. For quickest 

 results the bunching kinds answer best, be- 

 cause they can be cut at any stage, whereas 

 a heading lettuce must be allowed to develop 

 a solid heart. 



Lettuce may be divided culturally into two 

 great groups: (1) suitable for growing in the 

 open, and (2) suitable to indoor culture. A 

 few fit into both divisions, but generally the 

 distinctions are well marked. For the 

 present only the garden kinds are considered. 



THE MAIN TYPES OF PLANTS 



There are three big groups of lettuce 



which are easily recognized: 1, Butter; 

 2, Crisp; 3, Cos. 



Varieties of the "butter" class are most 

 generally regarded as the best quality, and 

 are especially valuable for home growing. 

 Some of the best of these, such as Half 



Butter heading. The ideal for the home gardener. 

 Tender, delicate in flavor, and making a solid head. 

 California Cream Butter succeeds well in all sec- 

 tions. Good for summer and stands over winter 





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Crisp heading. Valuable because it self-blanches 

 and is so hard that it withstands rough handling. 

 Hanson, one of the most largely grown varieties, 

 and possibly the very best for summer use 



Cos loose. Large, late, good for summer use. 

 Does not bolt to seed. Popular in Europe, but little 

 grown in America. Bath cos not so coarse as the 

 other cos varieties 



Cos bunching. The best type for serving as 

 cooKed greens. Leaves hard, but very sweet. The 

 cos varieties are good for summer use. This variety, 

 Express, is the earliest of its class 



THE SIX TYPES OF LETTUCE. THERE ARE TWO MAIN DIVISIONS, (1) HEAD OR CABBAGE, AND (2) BUNCHING, OR LOOSE 



318 



