654 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



Sect. VII. Jcetarious Plants. 



3963. The acetarious vegetables are a numerous class, of various culture, habits, and 

 use, and of which but little that is general can be here observed, excepting that they are 

 all articles of comparative luxury, or condiments, rather than food ; and consequently, 

 that though they occupy a moderate portion, perhaps a fortieth of the kitchen-garden, yet, 

 excepting a few of the sorts, as the lettuce, radish, cress, &c. they are seldom found in 

 those of the cottager. 



SoBSECT. 1. Lettuce, — Lactuca sativa, L. Syng. Polyg. ^qu. L. axidi dehor acece, J . 

 Laitue, Fr. ; Gartensalat, Ger. ; and Lattuga, Ital. 



3964. The lettuce is a bardy annual, introduced or cultivated in 1562, but from wliat 

 country is unknown. Some authors consider it as merely a variety of one of the three native 

 species ; one of M'hich, the L. virosa, seems very likely to be the parent plant. The 

 leaves are large, milky, frequently wrinkled, usually pale-green, but varying much in 

 form and color in the different varieties. Though of but a few months' duration in the 

 same individual, yet, in gardens, by successive sowings in spring, summer, and autumn, 

 it is obtained most part of the year. 



3965. Use. The use of lettuce as a cooling and agreeable salcfd is well known ; it is 

 also a useful ingredient in soups. It contains, like the other species of this genus, a 

 quantity of opium juice, of a milky nature, from which, of late years, a medicine has 

 been prepared by Dr. Duncan, senior, of Edinburgh, under the title of Lactucariuniy 

 and. which he finds can be adixdnistered with effect in cases where opium is inadmissible." 

 {Caled. Hort. Mem. vol. i. 160. 259. ; vol. ii. 314. ; and vol. iv. 153.) 



3966. Varieties. These are very numerous ; and, from the names, many of them 

 appear to have come to us from the Greek islands and the coast of the Levant. The 

 best are — 



Green Cos 



White Cos 



SUver Cos 



Spotted Cos 



Egyptian early Cos 



Black-seeded green Cos 



Lap 



Brown CiUcia 



Green Cilicia 



Common white cabbage - 



Large white cabbage 



Brown Dutch cabbage 



Imperial cabbage ; large and fine 



Grand admiral, or admirable; a very 



large fine cabbage-lettuce 

 Large Roman 



Hardy green cabbage (capuchin) 

 Tennis-ball cabbage 

 Prussian. 



3957. Estimate of sorts. In their general growth, all the Cos lettuces are more or less upright, of an 

 oblong shape. The cabbage-lettuces are round-leaved, growing in a compact full head of squat form, 

 close to the ground. Both have white, close, firm heads when in perfection; the varieties reach ma- 

 turity from June till September. Meanwhile they are occasionally used in young open growth. In a 

 very young state, the cabbage-lettuces have a milder, more agreeable taste than the Cos : but when both 

 classes are full grown, the flavor of the Cos is preferred for salads, while the cabbage kinds are more used 

 for soups. The Cilicia, of a nature between the other two, is much admired by some, but is less culti- 

 vated than formerly. The lap is drawn young, and cut with small salads. For principal summer and 

 autumn crops, the white, the silver, the green, the spotted, the Eg>-ptian, with the other kinds of Cos, 

 are eligible in the first degree. Next to these are the common and the large white cabbage, the brown 

 Dutch, the imperial, the grand admiral, the Roman, and both sorts of the Cilicia. Those kinds should 

 be reserved for the end of summer which are the most backward in starting for seed, among which are 

 the hardy green, the brown Dutch, and the tennis-ball. Any of the other kinds may be resorted to for 

 secondary crops, or to answer a local preference for particular names. For a very early crop, or for a late 

 sowing, to stand the winter, the fittest of the Cos kinds are the white, the green, the black-seeded, and 

 the Egyptian ; the latter is hardy, foniis a close head, and comes early : of the cabbage class, the 

 brown Dutch, the hardy green," the common white, and the tennis-ball are much relied upon for 

 their hardiness in standing severe weather. 



3968. Propagation. From seed ; of which, for a seed-bed four feet wide by ten feet in length, a quarter 

 of an ounce is sufficient, and will produce upwards of four hundred plants. - * 



3969. Soil and situation. " AU the sorts grow freely on any rich mellow soil, where the sub-soil is dry. 

 For the most part, raise this vegetable as a principal crop, on beds set apart for it ; and keep the varieties 

 separate, but to multiply the supplies throughout summer, portions may be sown, thinly intermixed with 

 principal crops of leeks, onions, carrot, and spinage, which will come ofi before the lettuces are full 

 grown ; also, with any young perennials which stand at wide intervals." 



3970. Times of sowing. " To obtain a constant supply of good lettuces, it is advisable to sow every 

 month, from February to July, for the main summer and autumn crops ; and to sow distinct sorts in 

 August and September, to produce late autumn and winter plants, of which a reserve is to stand for 

 spring and early summer heading lettuces in the following year. For the first early crops, you may begin 

 to sow at the end of January or beginning of February, if mild dry weather ; or, more generally, later in 

 February, or in the first week of March, on a sheltered south border. Some choice kinds may be sov.'n in 

 a frame, and forwarded by forcing. But for the main summer crops, sow in March and April, in any 

 open situation. Follow with secondary sowings twice or oftener every month, from May till about the 

 seventh of August ; to provide for a succession through the summer, till October, as the plants sowni early 

 in the year, after heading fuUy, soon fly up to seed-stalks. The sowing in the midst of summer should be 

 on shady borders. For a crop to come in during winter, and stand over partially till spring, make two 

 late sowings, in the third week of August and last fortnight of September." 



3971. Process in sowing. " The ground should have been broken in the previous digging. Sow broad- 

 cast, moderately thin ; rake in lightly, and very even." 



3972. Manage7nent of the summer crops. " In the successive crops raised from the opening of spring 

 till the close of summer, when the plants reach ;about two, three, or four inches' growth, they should be 

 thinned ; of those removed let a requisite number be planted out, from a foot to fifteen inches asunder, 

 to remain for cabbaging. Such as continue in the seed-beds may be either gathered thinningly, in pro- 

 gressive stages, till the final reserve advance in close heading ; or as they increase in size, be planted out at 

 the square distance specified above, especially those designed to stand till of stocky growth. In dry wea- 

 ther, water well at transplanting. Also weed and hoe the beds thinned, and water them, if necessary. 

 In the first heading crop of Cos lettuces, when about three parts grown, and beginning to close the inner 

 leaves, a number may be forwarded in cabbaging, by tying the leaves together, moderately close, with 

 strings of bass ; the remainder wiU head and whiten, in due time, without this assistance. Under the 



