August 18, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
803 
UR PRESENT SOWING. 
Price, post free. 
CABBAGE— 
per oz. 
s. d. 
per pkt. 
d. s. d. 
CARTERS' EARLY IIEARTWELD .... 
i 
6 
6 & 1 0 
Acknowledged to be the finest Early 
Cabbage in cultivation. 
CARTERS' MAMMOTH BEEF-HEART.. 
i 
C 
6 & 1 0 
The Best Main-crop Garden Cabbage in 
cultivation. 
LETTUCE— 
CARTERS' GIANT WHITE COS. 
2 
6 
6 & 1 0 
DUNNETT'S GIANT WINTER COS .... 
CARTERS’ LONGSTANDER. 
2 
G 
e & 1 0 
ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
i 
6 
0 6 
ONION- 
GIANT ROCCA . 
GIANT WHITE TRIPOLI . 
GIANT MADEIRA . 
(BARTERS’, 
V_y Royal Seedsmen by Sealed Warrants, 
2$ J &238 > HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON. 
For Present Sowing. 
D ANIELS’ DEFIANCE CABBAGE 
(Giant Early Marrow). 
The earlibst, largest, and best Cabbage for all purposes. 
Post free. Per pkt., 6 d. ; per oz., Is. (d. 
D ANIELS’ LITTLE QUEEN CABBAGE. 
Very early, dwarf and compact. Post free. Per pkt., 6d.; 
per oz., Is. 6d. 
DANIELS BROS., Seed Growers, Norwich. 
D 
D 
ANIELS’ GIANT ROCCA ONION. 
Large globular bulbs of mild flavour, 2 lbs. to 3 lbs. 
weight. Seed post free, per oz., Is. 
ANIELS’ WHITE ELEPHANT TRI¬ 
POLI ONION.—Seed post free, per pkt., 6d. ; per oz., 
Is. 6 d. The largest and best white Onion. 
DANIELS BROS., Seed Growers, Norwich. 
B 
NOW IN FULL BLOOM. 
EGONIAS.—Awarded Four Gold Medals. 
Unequalled as a floral display. Visitors are cordially in¬ 
vited ; free admission. Frequent trains from the City and West 
End to Catford Bridge and Forest Hill Stations. 
JOHN LAING & SONS, 
STANSTEAD PARK, FOREST HILL, S E. 
KENT: The Garden of England. 
STRAWBERRIES T ^ E to 
GEO. BUNYARD & Co.’s 
New List, embracing Noble, Waterloo, etc., and the 
30 best kinds, may now be had on application. 
Splendid plants in, little pots, and runners. 
THE OLD NURSERIES, JVIAIDSTONE. 
ORCHIDS A SPECIALTY. 
Quantity Immense— Quality Fine—Price Moderate. 
Inspection invited. 297,300 feet of glass in the Nurseries. 
HUGH LOW & CO, 
CLAPTON NURSERY, LONDON, N. 
Mr. DODWELL’S Grand CARNATIONS. 
®IE 91BBS4 GEOWtr. 
5,000 Unbloomed Seedlings, warranted of the highest parentage, 
unrivalled whether for bedding or forcing for Spring flowering. ’ 
3s. 6d. per doz.; 21s. per 100. 
SPECIAL TERMS FOR QUANTITIES. PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. 
THE COTTAGE, STANLEY RD, OXFORD. 
STRATOEERIES 
CHARLES TURNER 
Can now supply runners of all the leading varieties. 
Descriptive List sent oil application. 
THE ROYAL NURSERIES, SLOUCH. 
ROSES in POTS. 
All the best New and Old English and Foreign sorts, 
from 18s. to 36s. per dozen. 
Descriptive List free on application. 
RICHARD SMITH & Co., 
Nurserymen and Seed Merchants, 
WORCESTER. 
Crystal Palace. 
G< REAT EXHIBITION OF FRUIT, AND 
VT GRAND NATIONAL DAHLIA SHOW, Friday and 
Saturday, September 7th and Sth. 
Schedules and forms of entry may be obtained on application 
to Mr. W. G. HEAD, Superintendent, Gardt ns Department, 
Crystal Palace, S.E. 
Next Week’s Engagements. 
Monday, August 20th.—Sales of Dutch Bulbs at Stev.ns’ 
Rooms, and Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms. 
Tuesday, August 21st.— Caine Horticultural Society's Show. 
Wednesday, August 22nd.—Shropshire Horticultural Society's 
Exhibition at Shrewsbury (two days). Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
Show (three days). Sale of Dutch Bulbs at Stevens’ Rooms. 
Thursday, August 23rd.—Wilts Horticultural Society's Show at 
Salisbury. Royal Hort cultural Society of Ireland's Autumn 
Show. Flower Shows at Dunkeld, Perth, and Aberdeen 
(three days). Trade Sale of Dutch Bulbs at Protheroe & 
Morris’s Rooms. 
Friday, August 24th.—Sale of Established and Imported Orchids 
at Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms. 
Saturday, August 25th.—Sales of Dutch Bulbs at Protheroe & 
Morris's, and Stevens' Rooms. 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
fcHartettinjUorfo, 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1888. 
Lettuces.— While some writers are found 
holding the opinion that the ancients knew 
little or nothing about the Lettuce, some 
others mention instances leading to the' in¬ 
ference that they were acquainted with it 
and partook of it at their repasts. Probably 
the difficulty lies in separating what is merely 
traditional from what is actual fact. Pytha¬ 
goras, we are told, was extremely fond of 
Lettuces, which formed a large portion of his 
diet; but Eubulus is said to have bitterly 
reproached his wife for having served up Let¬ 
tuce at a meal, which were only recommended 
for funeral repasts. It would therefore appear 
that the ancients considered the Lettuce as an 
aliment appropriate in times of mourning, and 
they therefore employed it largely in their 
funereal feasts in commemoration of the 
death of Adonis, son of Myrrha, whom Venus 
had concealed in a bed of Lettuces, and 
whose death had occurred from a wound 
inflicted by a wild boar that had come to feed 
on the Lettuces, and so surprised the beautiful 
youth. Such is a sample of the traditional 
lore which has come down to us, and which 
Mr. R. Folkard has gathered together in his 
book on Plant Lore. 
Authorities are agreed that the many varie¬ 
ties of garden Lettuce have originated from 
Lactuca sativa, a plant which has never yet 
been found in a wild state. But the great 
number of varieties in cultivation, and the 
permanent character they have assumed, cer¬ 
tainly leads to the inference that the plant 
has been cultivated for a very long time. 
Messrs. Vilmorin & Co., in their hook —The 
Vegetable Garden —remark with much truth 
that the different varieties of Lettuce “ present 
such a diversity in the shape and colour of the 
leaves, that it is difficult to give a general 
description of the plant, which will he appli¬ 
cable to all its forms. We may suppose, 
however, and especially from the fact that 
some Chinese varieties do not form a head, 
that in its original or natural state the Lettuce 
forms a rosette of large, longish leaves, which 
are somewhat spoon-shaped, and more or less 
undulated or toothed at the edges. Good 
authorities appear inclined to refer all the 
cultivated varieties of Lettuce to two distinct 
botanical types, from one of which have been 
derived the Cabbage Lettuce, properly so-called, 
which has roundish or flattened heads, whilst 
the other has been the parent of the Cos Let¬ 
tuce, in which the head is tall and elongated 
in shape.” But the authors go on to express 
the difficulty they find in giving assent to this 
view of a two-fold origin ; “ in the first place 
because the two kinds pass into each other 
through almost imperceptible gradations ; and 
secondly, because as soon as they run to seed 
they present no difference from each other, 
which is the most conclusive proof of the 
identity of their origin.” 
In its young state the Lettuce forms a well- 
known and wholesome salad, containing a 
bland, pellucid juice, with little taste or smell, 
and exercising a cooling and soothing effect 
on the system — not, as is generally believed, 
from the presence of any supposed narcotic 
principle, but from the great quantity of water 
and mucilage it contains. During the period 
of flowering, it abounds in a peculiar milky 
juice, which flows from the stem when 
wounded, and has been found to possess 
decided medicinal properties. But is was long 
believed that the Lettuce possessed narcotic 
properties, and the old poets prescribed a bed 
of Lettuce for those who were unable to obtain 
repose; and Pliny states that Lettuces of all 
descriptions were thought to cause sleep. One 
of the superstitions of years ago was that to 
dream of eating salads made of Lettuce, &c., 
is supposed to portend trouble and difficulty 
in the management of affairs. 
The variation in the colour of the seeds of 
Lettuce is a curious fact in the physiology of 
the plant. We have Cos and Cabbage Lettuces 
of the same type, hut while one has white, 
the other has black-coloured seeds. The 
Dutch Cabbage type of Lettuce has black and 
white seeds, and years ago there was a type 
of it that had yellow seeds, but it would in 
all probability he difficult to meet with it now. 
Old seedsmen and gardeners, too, used to hold 
the opinion that black-seeded Lettuces were 
of hardier constitution than white seeded ones; 
but the idea originated more in fancy than in 
fact. 
One of the best known of the Cos or 
upright-growing Lettuce is the old Brown or 
Bath Cos—black-seeded ; it is a good, hardy, 
long-standing type, useful alike for winter, 
spring, or summer use, but most generally 
sown to stand the winter, and to come in early 
before the spring-sown varieties. There is 
also the white-seeded Bath Cos, which is not so 
much tinted with brown on the leaves, neither 
is it so popular. The Sugarloaf Bath Cos is 
so named because of the inward folding 
character of the leaves, but it is said not to 
he so hardy as the black-seeded type. Jefferies’ 
Little Queen Cos deserves to he mentioned 
for two reasons : first, because it inclines so 
closely to the Cabbage form, having peculiar 
curled or blistered leaves ; and, secondly, 
because it is a good useful winter variety. 
Hicks’ Hardy White Cos appears to be iden¬ 
tical with the Fulham White Cos, which is so 
much grown by market gardeners round 
London One of the most popular and useful 
of summer Cos Lettuces is the Paris White 
Cos ; it has been re-named very many times, 
but it is still Paris White Cos, and stands at 
the head of all the Cos Lettuces. The Paris 
Green Cos is greener in the leaf, and is also 
narrower; it is more self-folding, and does not 
stand so well as the white type. The Balloon 
Cos is a black-seeded form of the Paris White 
Cos, which grows to a large size, and with a 
self-folding character; it is a fine variety for 
exhibition or field culture. The Florence, 
Monstrous, or Ivery’s Nonsuch Cos is a very 
large Lettuce, of a kind of golden greeD, with 
slightly blistered leaves, and very popular in 
some parts of the country. The foregoing are 
the leading types of Cos Lettuce. 
Of Cabbage Lettuces there are many, and 
they vary greatly in size, character, colour, and 
