THE SCOTCH PINE. 
561 
to seed much sooner. The. young leaves should 
be cut when three or four inches long. 
The Spinach Lettuce (Lactuca quercina) 
is so named from its leaves being something 
like those of the oak, about six inches long, 
of a pale green colour, and mild flavour. It 
never forms a heart, and does not run to seed 
quite so soon as the first. It is fit for use when 
the lower leaves are five or six inches long. 
The Salad Cabbage Lettuce appears to be 
a variety of the common White Cabbage Let- 
tuce, forming a small loose heart, and soon 
running to seed. The leaves are roundish, 
about four inches long, and of a pale green 
colour. It is in use after the above sorts, and 
like them, must be cut young. 
Other varieties are grown in the French 
gardens, where so many salad plants are cul- 
tivated. This description of lettuce is used 
as an ingredient in salads, being cut when 
young, and mixed with other plants. Their 
cultivation is simple. The seed should be sown 
in drills, in rich moist ground, commencing 
early in spring, and continuing successional 
sowings through the summer, under a north 
wall, or in other cool places. The seed should 
be sown thick in the drills, and the plants will 
generally afford two crops, if not cropped too 
i- close at the first cutting. 
B GARDEN PICRIDIUM. 
' e This is the Picridium vidgare, a native of the 
*> e outh of Europe, and long cultivated in Italy 
we T its young leaves, which are eaten mixed in 
l ' ie lads. The plants grow quickly, producing 
enty of leaves, of a pleasant flavour. Sown 
i spring, the plant flowers in June, but the 
talks should be kept cut off, when it will pro- 
duce leaves fit for use all through the summer. 
It is a perennial plant, but the leaves are far 
preferable from one-year-old plants. Its treat- 
ment is precisely similar to that of the above 
lettuces. 
CORN SALADS. 
Several species of ValerianeUa are used as 
small salads on the continent, although almost 
neglected here. 
The Common Corn Salad, or Lamb's Let- 
tuce {ValerianeUa olitoria), is a native of 
Britain, in corn-fields and cultivated ground. 
It is a slender growing plant, of a pale green 
colour, and producing little bunches of pale 
blush flowers. 
The Common Corn Salad, grown in France 
under the name of Maclie, is the ValerianeUa 
locusta. The leaves are bright green, on 
moderately long foot-stalks. 
The Italian Corn Salad (ValerianeUa erio- 
carpa) is stated to be superior to the last in 
coming sooner into use, and possessing a milder 
flavour. The leaves are oblong, entire, on 
longish foot-stalks, and of a yellowi.-h green 
47 
colour. Where known, this plant is much 
valued cooked as spinach, in which way it is 
very good. 
The Algiers Corn Salad ( ValerianeUa cor- 
nucopia) is a pretty plant in the flower garden, 
and affords a good supply of leaves as a salad, 
being better flavoured than the common sort, 
producing abundance of leaves, and speedily 
furnishing other crops after being cut. The 
seed should be sown in the spring, as soon as 
the frosts are over, and the leaves will be 
ready for use in June : the plants will con- 
tinue furnishing leaves until destroyed by cold. 
The cultivation of corn salads is very 
similar to that of the salad lettuces. Of 
course, where large and succulent vegetables 
are wanted during the heat of summer, rich 
and moist ground must be prepared, which 
should be shaded by a wall, fence, or hurdles, 
but not by trees. In such a situation, with 
proper attention to water in dry weather, these 
plants will flourish, and produce abundance of 
leaves. The great object is to attain quick 
growth, so that the plants shall be as tender 
as possible, and this can only be secured by 
attention to the foregoing directions. 
THE SCOTCH PINE. 
In eivil architecture, the Scotch pine is 
justly considered the most important tree that 
we have. Its recent and extended uses in the 
construction of railways, and in wood pave- 
ment, are additional reasons why this hardy 
mountaineer should have a place on every 
piece of waste land not adapted for the growth 
of more select timber trees. Its rise and fall, 
o o 
