CULTIVATION OF CHICCORY. 253 



Valley ; Mr. Huntington on tho Barnstable ; Mr. Perkins on the 

 Martha's Vineyard ; all of which were severally read and 

 accepted. 



Friday, February 1. 



The Board met at 10 o'clock, A. M., Mr. Davis in the chair. 

 Reports of delegates were presented and accepted by Mr. Hub- 

 bard on the Franklin Society ; by Mr. Watkins on the Worcester 

 North ; by Mr. Chadbourne on the Norfolk ; by Mr. Sewall on 

 the Worcester South-East ; by Mr. Johnson, of Framingham, 

 on the Essex ; by Mr. Saltonstall on the Berkshire. 



An Essay was presented on the 



CULTURE OF CHICCORY. 



BY TROF. P. A. CITADBOUKNE. 



It would seem to be poor policy for the Board to appoint 

 members to perform work for which they are entirely unpre- 

 pared, and unable, for want of the proper means, to prepare 

 themselves. I have long known chiccory botanically, and have 

 been lead to fear it as a troublesome weed. But it has only 

 recently begun to spread in my neighborhood, so that I have had 

 little chance to personally observe its value for any purpose, or 

 to see any injurious result from it as yet. What I say must be 

 credited mainly to books, and not to myself. 



The Chiccory (Cichorium Intybus L.,) is a strongly marked 

 plant, belonging to the natural order Composite, nearly allied 

 to the lettuce, dandelion, and other well known plants of that 

 order, both cultivated and wild. It has a branching stem 

 adorned with very showy flowers, generally of a deep blue, 

 though white flowers are sometimes found. It has a deep, per- 

 renial root, which now seems to be the chief object in cultivat- 

 ing the plant. Chiccory is described by Parkinson, who wrote 

 more than two hundred years ago, and ascribed to it the medici- 

 nal virtues which the United States Dispensatory now mentions 

 as perhaps belonging to it ; though the Dispensatory does not 

 admit it among the recognized remedies, but puts it among those 

 substances that once having some reputation, are now consid- 

 ered worthy only of a place in the appendix and small 

 type in that excellent work. It is reckoned as a tonic, 

 very mild in its action, and so, probably, not very injurious 

 as a substitute for coffee, which is its great use. More than a 



