Lettuce

“ The ancient Greek and Roman epicures valued lettuce highly, and bestowed great care upon its cultivation, in some instances watering the plants with sweet wine instead of water, in order to communicate to them a delicate perfume and flavor. The common garden lettuce of the present day is a hardy plant, which supplies an agreeable, digestible, and, when served with a wholesome dressing, unobjectionable salad. ”

“ The antithesis of the lettuce is the onion. Both are equally essential to the perfect salad, but for most opposite reasons. The lettuce must be there to give substance to the whole, to retain the oil and salt and vinegar, to borrow fragrance and to look green and crisp. It underlies everything else, and acts as conductor to all, like consciousness in the human mind. It is the bulk of the salad so far as appearances go, and yet it alone could be turned out without affecting the flavour of the dish. It is only the canvas upon which the artist paints. ”

“ Even the long-keeping sorts, like squash, potatoes and onions, are very perceptibly more delicious right from the home garden, fresh from the vines or the ground; but when it comes to peas, and corn, and lettuce,—well, there is absolutely nothing to compare with the home garden ones, gathered fresh, in the early slanting sunlight, still gemmed with dew, still crisp and tender and juicy, ready to carry every atom of savory quality, without loss, to the dining table. ”

“ For the very earliest use plant seed in hotbed and transplant to open ground about the middle of May, setting the plants about a foot apart if head lettuce is desired and, of course, no one who is acquainted with the superior excellence of head lettuce over the leaf variety will care to grow the latter. There are so many excellent varieties of lettuce on the market that one hesitates to recommend any special sort but some are more reliable headers than others. ”

“ Lettuce with children has always been a prime favourite for cultivation. Before the time of Christ, lettuce was grown and served. There is a wild lettuce from which the cultivated probably came. There are a number of cultivated vegetables which have wild ancestors, carrots, turnips and lettuce being the most common among them. Lettuce may be tucked into the garden almost anywhere. ”

“ This is the best variety of lettuce, except for those who have hot-houses and attend to winter-gardening. They will prefer the other finer varieties. There are two varieties of endive cultivated in this country: green curled, which is the most common, and used principally as a salad ”

“ The white lettuce is the best adapted for standing the rigours of the winter.
All the garden plants are fond of moisture; lettuces thrive, more particularly, when well manured, and endive even more so. Indeed, it is found an excellent plan to plant them out with the roots covered up in manure, and to keep up the supply, the earth being cleared away for that purpose. ”

“ When it is realized that the outside leaves are purchased at the same price as the more delicate parts of the lettuce, it can readily be understood why they also should be utilized as food.
Most of the garden varieties of lettuce, especially when they have grown very large, are frequently cooked as greens. When used in this way, lettuce is prepared, as are other greens, according to the directions given in Art. 3. This vegetable also makes an appetizing dish when it is prepared with a sauce and served hot in the same way as dandelion.
SPINACH
11. ”

“ One bright moonlight night the Cut-Worms awakened and crawled out on top of the ground to feed. They lived in the farmer's vegetable garden, so there were many things to choose from: young beets just showing their red-veined leaves above their shining red stems; turnips; clean-looking onions holding their slender leaves very stiff and straight; radishes with just a bit of their rosy roots peeping out of the earth; and crisp, pale green lettuce, crinkled and shaking in every passing [Pg 86] breeze. ”

“ It is distinguished from all others by its color; both the leaves and the seeds being paler than those of any other sort. Its principal recommendation is signified in the name; but it should be used while young, cut and served in the form of lettuce. It is then tender and of good quality; though the plants yield a small amount of salad, compared with many other sorts. When fully grown, the leaves become tough, and often bitter. As a variety for winter culture, it is of little value. ”

“ Lettuce is a cool-weather crop, and during the hot days of summer the greatest difficulty is experienced in growing it. There are several different types. The loose-leaf kinds, those that do not form a head, are the easiest to grow. The other forms are the Romaine, or Cos, which makes a columnar head, and the ordinary kind, or cabbage lettuce.
The seeds should be planted shallowly in rows a foot or eighteen inches apart, and afterward the young plants must be thinned to stand ten or twelve inches apart in the row. A row twenty feet long is enough to plant at one sowing. ”

“ This crop attains its best development in a rich sandy loam in which there is plenty of organic matter. Lettuce thrives best during the early spring or late autumn and will not withstand the heat of summer. In order that the leaves may be crisp and tender, it is necessary to force the growth. The usual method of growing lettuce for home use is to sow the seeds broadcast in a bed and remove the leaves from the plants as rapidly as they become large enough for use. ”

“ The lettuce is to me a most interesting study. Lettuce is like conversation: it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it. Lettuce, like most talkers, is, however, apt to run rapidly to seed. Blessed is that sort which comes to a head, and so remains, like a few people I know; growing more solid and satisfactory and tender at the same time, and whiter at the center, and crisp in their maturity. Lettuce, like conversation, requires a good deal of oil to avoid friction, and keep the company smooth ”

“ The first kind of lettuce which grows spontaneously, is the one that is generally known as “goat1429-lettuce;” thrown into the sea, this vegetable has the property of instantaneously killing all the fish that come into its vicinity. The milky juice of this lettuce,1430 left to thicken and then put into vinegar, is given in doses of two oboli, with the addition of one cyathus of water, to patients for dropsy. The stalk and leaves, bruised and sprinkled with salt, are used for the cure of wounds of the sinews. ”

“ If any there be among our readers who do not feel like rubbing their hands in gleeful complacency as the tender, succulent leaves, nicely folded over each other in delicate whiteness, are placed before them, they had better pass this page by; it will have no interest for them. But those who know how to enjoy a good head of lettuce after the long winter, may derive some pleasure by reading on, even if they do not find anything instructive to them in this short chapter about a very common, plain, simple, vegetable. ”

“ The soil should be of the richest and deepest, and well dressed with lime.
Lettuce is grown with advantage between the rows of early cabbage, and after both are harvested the ground is used for celery. The early varieties may be set as closely as eighteen inches in the row, and twenty-four between rows. The lettuce is taken out before the row is needed.
The late crop is started in the outside seed-bed about June 1st to 15th. It will help give better plants to cut back the tops once or twice during growth, and an occasional good soaking in dry weather will prove very beneficial. ”

“ The value of ‘Cutting Lettuce’ is better understood on the Continent than in this country. The small tender plants are in daily use, and appear in the salad bowl with Water Cress and Corn Salad, delicately dressed with delicious flavourings. After this brief digression it is necessary to add that a crowded Lettuce crop is an encumbrance to the ground; and one of the evils of the best system, that of sowing where the crop is to finish, is the tendency of the cultivator to be timid in the thinning, which should be done with a bold hand, and in good time. ”

“ WILD FLOWERS FOR HELEN'S GARDEN
Roger had a fair crop of lettuce in one of his flats by the middle of March and transplanted the tiny, vivid green leaves to the hotbed without doing them any harm. The celery and tomato seeds that he had planted during the first week of the month were showing their heads bravely and the cabbage and cauliflower seedlings had gone to keep the lettuce company in the hotbed. On every warm day he opened the sashes and let the air circulate among the young plants. ”

“ Lettuce, too, may be grown to advantage by planting a short strip of seed at the end of rows of other vegetables, where full rows are not required, as this saves space in the garden and the lettuce if placed at the ends of the rows nearest the house is easily accessible and does away with the necessity of walking on the garden after it has been cultivated, a thing the careful gardener avoids. ”

“ The cutting of lettuce is considered a culinary sin; but, when the straight-leaved lettuce, or the Romaine, is to be used, better effects, at least as far as appearance is concerned, will be produced, if the lettuce be cut into ribbons. To do this, wash the lettuce carefully, without removing the leaves from the stem; fold together across the centre, and with a sharp, thin knife cut into ribbons less than half an inch in width. [30]
Endive Salad. ”

“ Nearly everyone in our country clings to lettuce as the only plant for a salad. Over across the sea in old England this is not so. Other plants are used in this way and called salad plants. Endive is one of these. Some of the endives are curly-leaved, and when blanched are attractive to look upon; and surely there is no reason why we should not consider the side of beauty in vegetables. ”

“ The seed is cheap and it germinates quickly. Well-grown lettuce always commands good prices. It is usual to start the seeds in a border or under a frame, and to prick out the plants into more roomy quarters as soon as they are large enough to handle. In a few weeks after transplanting, in good growing weather, they are headed ready for market. Good soil, abundance of moisture and free ventilation are essentials in lettuce production. ”

“ None of us are likely to go into the seed-producing side of lettuce. What we are interested in is the raising of tender lettuce all the season. To have such lettuce in mid and late summer is possible only by frequent plantings of seed. If seed is planted every ten days or two weeks all summer, you can have tender lettuce all the season. When lettuce gets old it becomes bitter and tough.
"Melons are most interesting to experiment with. We suppose that melons originally came from Asia, and parts of Africa. Watermelons grow wild in Africa. The Negroes and wild animals feed upon them. ”

“ To be at its best, lettuce should be grown very rapidly, and the use of top-dressings of nitrate are particularly beneficial with this crop. The ground should be light, warm, and very rich, and cultivation shallow but frequent. ”

“ Garden.—Your lettuce may be transplanted from the hot-bed the middle and last of this month. A foot apart is none too much, if you wish head-lettuce. Sow your main supplies of radishes, cabbage, tomatoes, etc. Get your pie-plant seed in early as possible; also carrots, parsnips, and salsify or oyster-plant. Prune your gooseberries, currants, and raspberry bushes. Grapes, which were not laid in last fall should be pruned and laid in early in March; but if neglected then, let them be till the leaves are large as the palm of your hand. Look out or worms’ nests, and destroy them promptly. ”

“ Where the beds are put down in early February two crops of lettuce and one crop of cucumbers can be grown, and when the spring is late three crops of lettuce before outdoor lettuce appears on the market, when the beds are given over entirely to the cucumber crop. ”

“ Slice the beets, place them on the lettuce, spread with a layer of cabbage, garnish with sliced beets cut in points and dress with mayonnaise or boiled dressing.
BIRDS NEST SALAD—Have ready as many crisp leaves of lettuce as may be required to make a dainty little nest for each person. Curl them into shape and in each one place tiny speckled eggs made by rolling cream cheese into shape, then sprinkle with fine chopped parsley. ”

“ The brown lettuce is very large and very good. There are other, earlier kinds, and many others that form large heads. But we can get the above kinds early, by sowing in a hotbed and transplanting; or by sowing so as to have plants get of considerable size in the fall, and protect by covering in winter. These will be suitable for the table early in the spring. Lettuce does better for transplanting; it forms larger heads than in the original bed, and is a little later. Make the soil very rich with stable-manure. Lettuce is more affected by the quality of the soil than most other vegetables. ”

“ Sow a few seeds of lettuce very thinly in a line once every three weeks. When the seedlings, which should be protected from birds by netting, are three inches high, thin them out, leaving one foot between each plant. The seedlings that are pulled up can be transplanted or eaten. ”

“ The lettuce should be eaten while young; when in flower it possesses narcotic and poisonous properties. From the characteristc milky juice of the lettuce, Lactucorium, or "lettuce opium," used medicinally as an anodyne, is prepared.
88.—SPRING SOUP WITHOUT MEAT. (Fr.—Potage Printanière Maigre.)
Ingredients.—3 pints of water, 1 head of lettuce, 1⁄4 of a white-heart cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 onion, 2 leeks, 1⁄2 a head of celery, 1 small cauliflower, 4 ozs. of butter, croûtons (or small slices) of toasted bread, salt and pepper. ”