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 resembles the Yellow-seeded Brown Dutch, but is not so early, and the head is looser and larger.
Brown Silesian or Marseilles Cabbage. Vil.
Brown Batavian.
Head green, tinted with brown, remarkably large,—not compactly, but regularly, formed; ribs and nerves of the leaves large and prominent; the leaves disconnected with the head are large, bronze-green, coarsely blistered, and frilled and curled on the margin. The diameter of a well-grown plant is about eighteen inches, and its weight twenty-eight ounces. The seeds are white.
This Lettuce, though somewhat hard, is brittle and mild flavored, but is better when cooked than when served in its crude state as a salad. It is a hardy, late sort; succeeds well in winter, and retains its head a long period; but is rarely employed for forcing, on account of its size,—one of the plants occupying, in a frame or hot-bed, the space of two plants of average dimensions.
Brown Winter Cabbage. Vil.
Large Brown Winter.