THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 55 



as a salad to those of the endive to which it is closely related. 

 In this form it is known as barbe dc capucin. Under special 

 cultural processes, accidentally discovered and long kept secret 

 by the discoverer, M. Bresiers, the famous witloof of the 

 Dutch is produced. The tender young roots, when boiled and 

 served with butter and pepper are considered a great delicacy 

 by many Europeans, especially the Belgians. The green 

 leaves, when cooked in the same manner as spinach, except 

 that two waters are used, rival the jus-tly popular dandelion 

 greens." 



W^e learn also that in some parts of Europe a blue dye is 

 made from the leaves, by much the same process as that fol- 

 lowed in the manufacture of the still extant woad dye with 

 which the ancient Britons stained their bodies in times of war. 

 It is employed, also to impart a dark color to, and increase 

 the bitter qualities of certain liquors, such as porter, "for which 

 purpose it is less harmful than quassia which is also used ex- 

 tensively as a substitute for hops in many beers, ales and por- 

 ters." 



Popularly, chickory is best known for its employment as 

 a substitute or adulterant of coffee. We are told that "dur- 

 ing the great blockade of Napoleonic times, when coffee, tea 

 and cocoa could not be easily procured, the demand for an 

 infused beverage led to extensive adulterations and substitu- 

 tions of various kinds, the principle of which, in the case of 

 coffee was made of chickory. The people having become ac- 

 customed to the use of chickory, either pure or mixed with 

 coffee, during the continuance of the blockade, still continued 

 to use it in the succeeding times of peace. Its use as a bev- 

 erage on the continent (of Europe) is now as well established 

 as tea or cocoa and forms an unique example of the creation of 

 a taste for an adulterant which afterwards demanded even a 

 complete substitute." 



To the true coffee-lover, the above statement seems in- 



