THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



311 



The Continent is becoming a very extensive customer 

 or foreign wools of all kinds. Take even the case of 

 the South American wools. The exports of wool have 

 doubled from Buenos Ayres in the last five years, but 

 we have not increased our supplies from thence, which 

 stand at the same amount now as they did iu 1855. 

 We then received one-sixth of the entire shipments : wo 

 now only get one-eleventh part. Out of 27,000,0001bs. 

 last year only about 2,D00,0001bs. came to England, 

 while the Continent obtained the bulk of the remainder, 

 France receiving G,28O,O00Ibs., Belgium and Holland 

 9,000,000, and Italy 2,100,000lbs., while 7,000,0001bs. 

 went to the United States. 



Mr. Wray advocates strongly the introduction of the 

 Shanghai sheep into our colonies as a cross, being a 

 very prolific breedei', frequently producing 3, 4, or 5 

 lambs at a birth. This he considers would give a more 

 rapid extension to our flocks. The Cape colonists, 

 many of whom were present, however gave the pre- 

 ference to the improved French breeds, which they have 

 recently been importing. 



The importation of alpaca and mohair, and their 

 extensive application in European manufactures, only 

 date from a quarter of a century back, and yet they 



have risen into immense importance, and would still 

 further advance but for the limited supply, and the 

 high price at which the raw material keeps, with a 

 yearly advance in price. Of mohair, or Turkey 

 goats' wool, we received about 5,000 bales less last year 

 than in 1858. Franco has gone largely into the ma- 

 nufacture of mohair fabrics, and the fas-hion having 

 run much of late years upon this class of ladies' ma- 

 terial, there is a brisk demand for the wool. Until, 

 however, some progress is made in the rearing of the 

 alpaca and the Angora goat in our own possessions, 

 we must continue dependent for our supplies on Tur- 

 key and Peru. Something, however, has been done 

 in this matter : a fine flock of alpacas has been iutro- 

 ! duced into New South Wales, and many of the Angora 

 goats into South Australia and the Cape. By a 

 cross with the common goat, the production of this 

 long silky hair or wool may be largely extended. Mr. 

 Mosenthal, of the Cape, who was pre^ent at the So- 

 ciety's meeting, gave some very interesting details re- 

 specting his introduction and experience of the Angora 

 goat, and the profits to be derived from it. We pro- 

 pose, indeed, at the first opportunity to give Mr. 

 Wray's paper in full, with the discussion that followed. 



CHICORY AND ITS USES, 



The re-imposition of the duty on chicory, proposed 

 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, calls for a few 

 remarks on the culture of this root, the trade in the 

 manufactured product, and the extensive use of the 

 powder here and on the Continent. In many quarters 

 the very name of chicory has become a matter of offence. 

 But this arises, as has been justly observed, not from 

 any unreasoning dislike to the plant or beverage, but 

 from the fact of the gross adulteration of cofiee, under 

 the plea of mixing it with chicory, and the still less ex- 

 cusable adulteration of chicory itself with the most 

 noxious substances. This is a great injustice to the pur- 

 chasers, and an injury to our colonial coffee planters, 

 who find the extended sale of the berry checked thereby. 

 It is only in Europe that chicory has come into use. 

 It is to the fact of its cheapness, and its containing 

 sugar easily caramilized by heat, that its extensive use 

 may probably be attributed. For this, the flavour of 

 burnt sugar appears to be a general favourite in our 

 beverages. The quantity found in chicory is very 

 much less than in coffee. 



The cultivation of chicory on the Continent is not of 

 recent date. Its use has existed for nearly 70 years. 

 When coffee as well as sugar and other colonial produce 

 became high-priced in France and Germany, chicory 

 was almost universally used by the labouring classes as 

 a substitute. As Von Thaer truly observes of all plants 

 which have been proposed as substitutes for coffee, and 

 which when roasted and steeped in boiling water 

 yielded an infusion resembling coffee, chicory is the 

 only one which has maintained its ground. Indeed 

 even in this country it is held in extensive public esti- 

 mation. At first it was only mixed with pure coffee 

 as an adulteration, by fraudulent dealers. But this 

 practice extended itself so widely, that for the defence 

 both of the honest dealer and of the public the sale had 

 to be legalized, and much chicory in the unmixed state 

 is now bought and used instead of and along with 

 genuine coffee. 



Findingtherewasanincrcasing demand for the root, it 

 soon came to be cultivated in this country as a marketable 

 crop, being raised chiefly in the counties of Kent, Sur- 

 rey,!Essex, Bedford, Norfolk, Suffolk, Chester, and York. 



The extent of the home-production has never been 

 very accurately ascertaimd. In 1840 Mr. McCulloch 

 estimated it at 3,000 tons ; and in 1850 it was com- 

 puted to have risen to 6,000 tons. For within a cir- 

 cuit often miles of the city of York 3,000 acres were 

 under cultivation with this crop in 1850. The yield of 

 root from an acre is about 10 tons ; which is reduced 

 by drying, &c., to about 2^ tons. The admission duty 

 free of foreign-grown chicory in 1854 led to the aban- 

 donment of much of the home culture ; and if we are 

 to believe Mr. Gladstone, there are not now 500 acres 

 under culture with chicory in Great Britain. 



Mr. Braithwaite Poole, inhiswork, " Tlie Statistics 

 of British Commerce," published in 1852, stated that 

 there wore then about 10,000 acres under cultivation, 

 producing 70,000 tons of green root. The actual pro- 

 duction made into chicory powder in England and 

 Guernsey he estimated at 14,000 tons, which at £22 

 per ton gave a total value for the crop of £308,000; 

 the duty on foreign was then ^20 per ton for raw, and 

 Gd. per lb. for roasted. In 1853, it was stated by a 

 deputation of the coffee planters, that the consumption 

 of chicory in this country amounted to 12,000 tons per 

 annum. 



IIow far circumstances are gradually giving to the 

 infusion of chicory, in some countries, the character of 

 a national beverage, may be judged of from the fact 

 that we now import 6,000 tons of foreign-grown chicory, 

 besides the unascertained quantity produced here, which 

 may be half as much, or fully as much again — that the 

 quantity of the dried root consumed in France is about 

 16 millions of pounds a year — and that in some parts 

 of Germany the women are becoming regular chicory- 

 topers, and are making of it an important part of 

 their ordinary sustenance. 



The late Professor Johnston, in his " Chemistry of 

 Common Life," speaking of chicory, says ; " When 

 ground, and exposed to the air, it becomes moist and 

 clammy, increases in weight, and acquires a distinct 

 smell of liquorice and a sensibly sweet fi7'st taste. It 

 possesses in no degree the pleasant aroma which recom- 

 mends the genuine roasted coffee. When infused, even 

 in cold water, it imparts to it a dark colour, and a 



