The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Lettuce
LETTUCE.
Lactùca satìva.—Laitue, Fr.—Gartensalat, Ger.
This plant is named from the Latin word lac, on account of the milky juice with which it abounds. It is considered very healthy, especially in the Spring of the year. There are some of the family natives of all the warm and temperate latitudes of the globe. The leading cabbaging kinds were originally introduced from Egypt; those of upright growth, from the Island of Cos: hence the name of Cos Lettuce is applied to all the sorts that approach that character. Some of the varieties have been extensively cultivated for opium preparations. The plant is allowed to shoot up till just on the eve of flowering, when the top is cut off in the afternoon. In thirty-six hours there is a brown crust found on the wounded part of the stem, which is carefully collected. The stem is again cut, and repeatedly, till the plant ceases to yield its milky substance. It is unquestionably the best of the salading vegetables. Many varieties are cultivated in Europe, and not a few in this country; but several kinds grown there are not adapted to our high and dry temperatures. The following cabbaging sorts are the best cultivated at the present time.
Brown Dutch.—Two kinds, the White and the Yellow Seeded; the latter the best; both very hardy: resists the severity of the Winter without any protection.
Early Cabbage or White Butter, a very early sort; does excellent for forcing on hotbeds; the leaves of a pale green; the heads white.
Royal Cabbage, a large, dark green variety; two weeks later then the former. There are two kinds of it—the White and the Black Seeded, the latter prefered. It does very well for a Summer salad, while the early Cabbage goes to seed without heading.
Drumhead is a very fine, large variety, does well in Summer, and forms a noble plant for a dish.
Green Hammersmith is a very hardy variety, heads well, and matures early.
Victoria is a new Cabbage Lettuce, that promises well, having large heads of a white, crispy nature. It appears to withstand the heat. We have only grown it one season.
White Silesia, though not so delicate in flavor as some of the former, yet is very acceptable in the heat of July, when nearly every other variety fails. It is early, hearts well, and very crisp.
Large Indian. This appears to be the only variety we have that is perfect through the whole heat of Summer; in fact, it requires heat to make it eatable, for in May and June it is much too coarse for the table, along with the other fine sorts.
The following are Cos Lettuces, all very celebrated in Europe, but with us they do not appear to retain their reputation. Our long, dry, warm Summers, prevent their coming to a crisp head; in fact, many of them never head, unless very early in the season. They should be tied up like Endive, eight or ten days before they are cut, unless they show a disposition to head.
White Cos, of strong, upright growth, stands the heat well, and if tied for ten days, blanches beautifully.
Brown or Bath Cos, a very hardy sort, can be cultivated under a wall or fence all Winter, when it will come to use very early in Spring.
Paris Cos, a fine variety, grows strong and upright, very crisp, and one of the best of the Cos. It is improved by tying up eight or ten days before it is cut.
Green Cos, a very hardy sort, rather coarse-growing; but when tied up a few days before being cut, it becomes much more tender.
Culture.—The soil best adapted for the growth of Lettuce, is a light, deep, rich, sandy loam, well worked and manured. The roots are very fibrous, and go in search of food to a great depth and breadth. Where there are only a few sorts cultivated, they will require a continued succession of sowings, but where there is a proper variety, four or five sowings in the year will keep the table well supplied. It is one of the few vegetables that can be had in perfection throughout the year, by judicious management. It is a crop too that can be introduced between other crops, without any disadvantage, by transplanting from the seed-bed on every suitable occasion. For sorts that will be in use in June, July, and August, sow Early Cabbage, Royal Cabbage, Drumhead, Silesean, and Indian, on a bed of rich, light ground, as early in March as the season will admit. Sow a few of each again about the end of April. Sow Early Cabbage, Royal Cabbage, and Victoria, in August, and about the fifteenth of September a general sowing of all the sorts. The Brown Dutch, and other heading kinds for planting in drills, to stand out all Winter, as recommended for Early York Cabbage; the Early Cabbage Lettuce, for heading in frames during Winter; and the other sorts to be transplanted into boxes, very closely, about the middle or end of October, and protected with boards or shutters during Winter, giving plenty of air every mild day. See that they are not preyed upon by slugs; if so, a dusting of air-slacked lime or soot will destroy them. They should be planted out as early in Spring as the season will admit. The varieties of the Cos Lettuce can only be successfully grown by sowing late in September, protecting them in Winter, and transplanting them out early in Spring. The seed should always be sown thinly and evenly, on fresh-dug ground, in very shallow drills, nine inches apart. Rake it smoothly, and if in dry weather, press it gently with the back of the spade. When they have grown an inch high, thin them out to two inches apart. After they begin to touch each other, give another thinning, when they can be transplanted, if required, into other compartments for a crop. As it is an article of every-day demand, a few seeds should be sprinkled in with the more permanent crops, such as Beets, Onions, Carrots, &c. Lettuce are impatient of being transplanted during warm weather; the late Spring sowings and the early Fall sowings should therefore be made where they are intended to grow, and thinned out as they advance in growth. I need scarcely add that hoeing deep and frequent is indispensable to secure a good crop. In this vicinity there are hundreds of acres of this crop planted out in October and November, on the south side of deep drills, drawn by the hoe; after the ground has become hard, these drills have straw strewn lightly across them during Winter; early in Spring it is removed, when the plants grow rapidly, head early, and are off the ground in time to plant it with Egg plants and Tomatoes, thereby having two very profitable crops off the ground in one year.
Should it happen by accident or neglect, that there are no plants for Spring crops, recourse must be had to sowing on a slight hot-bed in February. When the plants are up, thinned out, and properly hardened, they are planted out about the end of March, or first of April, and treated as before directed. Lettuces may be had in perfection throughout the whole Winter, if planted in a-sunk pit (see p. 15) or frame, early in October, and protected from frost by glass sash and straw mats, giving plenty of air during sunshine, but never allowing a draft from front to back, if there be severe frost. The earth should be within eight inches of the glass, to keep the plants as near the light as possible. The best sorts are the Early Cabbage and Royal Cabbage. Plant them eight to ten inches apart, each way, and alternately opposite. Give occasional watering, picking off all decayed leaves. If the Winter proves very severe, surround the frame or pit with dry leaves from the woods; this precaution can nearly always be conveniently adopted; leaves being everywhere plentiful, a store should always be at hand. In all the southern States, every variety of the Lettuce is perfectly hardy, and can be grown in perfection from October to May. The varieties of Cos heart freely, if tied as recommended for Endive, and are greatly benefited by that simple operation.