ect
their ripening. The seed should in no case be depended on without trial.
Plants from seeds two years old heart more readily than those from
one-year-old seed."--_Thomp._

_Use._--"Lettuce is well known as one of the best of all salad plants.
It is eaten raw in French salads, with cream, oil, vinegar, salt, and
hard-boiled eggs. It is also eaten by many with sugar and vinegar; and
some prefer it with vinegar alone. It is excellent when stewed, and
forms an important ingredient in most vegetable soups. It is eaten at
almost all meals by the French; by the English after dinner, if not
served as adjuncts to dishes during the repast; and by many even at
supper. In lobster and chicken salads, it is indispensable; and some of
the varieties furnish a beautiful garnish for either fish, flesh, or
fowl.

"In a raw state, Lettuce is emollient, cooling, and in some degree
laxative and aperient, easy of digestion, but containing no
nourishment."

_Varieties._--These are exceedingly numerous. Some are of English
origin; many are French and German; but comparatively few are American.
The number of kinds grown to any considerable extent in this country is
quite limited. Cultivators generally select such as appear to be best
adapted to the soil and climate of their particular locality; and, by
judicious management, endeavor to give vigor and hardiness to the
plants, and to increase the size, compactness, and crispy quality of the
head. Some of the varieties have thus been brought to a remarkable
degree of perfection; the plants producing heads with as much certainty,
and nearly as well proportioned and solid, as those of the Common
Cabbage. They are generally divided into two classes; viz., Cabbage
lettuces and Cos lettuces.

_Cabbage Lettuces._--

BROWN DUTCH.

Black-seeded. _Vil._

Head of medium size, rather long and loose; the leaves, which coil or
roll back a little on the borders about the top of the head are
yellowish-green, washed or stained with brownish-red,--the surplus
leaves are large, round, waved, green, washed with bronze-red, and
coarsely, but not prominently, blistered; diameter twelve to fourteen
inches; weight about eight ounces.

This Lettuce cabbages readily, forms a good-sized head, is tender, of
good quality, hardy, and tolerably early. It does not, however, retain
its head well in dry and warm weather; and, as it is little affected by
cold, seems best adapted to winter or very early culture. It