489 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE CrLTURE OF SALADS. 



The culture of salads for the Paris market is not merely 

 good — it is perfection. Not only do the French gardeners 

 supply their own markets with delicious salads all through 

 the winter and early spring months, but also_, to a consider- 

 able extent, those of some other countries, and send vast 

 quantities to the English markets. Now it will probably 

 occur to the reader that climate is the cause of the supe- 

 riority of the French in this respect, and, indeed, some prac- 

 tical men repeatedly say so. Nothing can be more fallacious 

 than this belief; and I have no hesitation in affirming that, 

 by the adoption of the method to be presently described, 

 as good salads as ever went to the Paris markets may be 

 grown in England and Ireland during the coldest months 

 of winter and spring. It is simply nonsense to say that it 

 is the effect of climate ; the winters in northern France are 

 severer than our own, and I know many spots in England 

 and Ireland which are preferable to the neighbourhood of 

 Paris for this culture. Near that city I have often seen 

 beautiful Cos and Cabbage lettuces looking as fresh under 

 their coverings in the middle of winter, when the earth was 

 frost-bound, as the budding Lilac in May : had they been 

 treated as ours usually are, they would have presented a 

 very different appearance. At all times of the year the 

 gardens in which salads are grown round Paris are 

 beau.tiful examples of cultivation. In the spring and 

 summer, when they are grown in the open air, nothing can 

 look more healthy; but it is their condition in the cold 

 season, when little or nothing can be done with them out 

 of doors, that demands most attention from us. As very 

 ordinary cultivation suffices to grow them with us in the 



