The Book of Household Management by Mrs. Beeton

should be nicely blanched, and be eaten young. They are seldom served in any other way, but may be stewed and sent to table in a good brown gravy flavoured with lemon-juice. In preparing them for a salad, carefully wash them free from dirt, pick off all the decayed and outer leaves, and dry them thoroughly by shaking them in a cloth. Cut off the stalks, and either halve or cut the lettuces into small pieces. The manner of cutting them up entirely depends on the salad for which they are intended. In France the lettuces are sometimes merely wiped with a cloth and not washed, the cooks there declaring that the act of washing them injuriously affects the pleasant crispness of the plant: in this case scrupulous attention must be paid to each leaf, and the grit thoroughly wiped away. _Average cost_, when cheapest, 1d. each. _Sufficient_.--Allow 2 lettuces for 4 or 5 persons. _Seasonable_ from March to the end of August, but may be had all the year. [Illustration: LETTUCE.] THE LETTUCE.--All the varieties of the garden lettuce have originated from the _Lactuca sativa_ of science, which has never yet been found in a wild state. Hence it may be concluded that it is merely another form of some species, changed through the effects of cultivation. In its young state, the lettuce forms a well-known and wholesome salad, containing a bland pellucid juice, with little taste or smell, and having a cooling and soothing influence on the system. This arises from the large quantities of water and mucilage it contains, and not from any narcotic principle which it is supposed to possess. During the period of flowering, it abounds in a peculiar milky juice, which flows from the stem when wounded, and which has been found to be possessed of decided medicinal properties. BAKED MUSHROOMS. (A Breakfast, Luncheon, or Supper Dish.)