December 1, 1863. ] 



JOUENAL OP HOETICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



433 



peeping through the holes ; add soil, pressing it iiiin, then 

 more roots, and so on to the top, when we have a hundred 

 roots which will aft'ord twelve good salads. The box may 

 then have the end nailed on, and be placed on end in a 

 Mushroom-house, or some such dark and warm place. Three 

 such boxes are enough for a good-sized family, introducing 

 one ten days after the other, and refilling or otherwise as cir- 

 cumstances may requu-e. 



2nd, As Herbage fob Cattle. — My opinion of this is 

 that cattle ai-e not so fond of it as to " devoiu- it greedily," 

 which is what some say they do. I, however, have seen many 

 acres of Chicory, and find that cattle eat evei-ything in the 

 field in preference to it. They leave it the last because 

 they do not savour it. Let new-fangled farmers say what 

 they will, nothing is better than grass and some firm sweet 

 Mangolds and Swede Turnips for feeding cattle. 



The seed for this pui'pose is sown in the beginning of April 

 in drills about 9 inches apart, and is hoed and thinned to 

 6 inches apart in the rows. By July the plants are strong, 

 and as this happens to be the time when pastures are be- 

 coming bare, the cattle are turned into it. Some of the 

 plants will run to seed, and to these the cattle are more 

 partial than the leaves. Chicory affords a supply of herbage 

 until late in the season. 



3bd, Its Eoots as Coffee. — The soil shoiild be rich, 

 firiable, sandy, and deep. It should be dug or ploughed 

 deeply in the previous autumn, and laid up rather rough, 

 so that the frost may pulverise it. If the soil is poor it 

 should be heavily manured in autumn, prior to its being 

 turned up for the winter. The land is better when in good 

 heart to begin with, for newly-manured land is apt to cause 

 the plants to run too much to top without giving a coitb- 

 sponding amount of root. The ground should be cross- 

 ploughed in the spring, dragged or heavy-harrowed, doing 

 it in dry weather. Couch and other noxious weeds should be 

 thoroughly eradicated before an attempt is made at growing 

 this crop ; and the ground should be naturally, or be made, 

 something like flour by the second week in May. The soU 

 cannot be too fine nor too rich for Chicory, as long, thick, 

 straight roots are the object aimed at. The field having a 

 fine powdery surface by the second week in May, the seed 

 ia then sown on the level with an implement known as the 

 •"Chicory-drill," which deposits the seed in rows 12 inches 

 apart, about half an inch deep, and a like distance from seed to 

 seed. A wooden roller is mostly attached to the drill, behind 

 the coulters, which closes the da-iUs after the seed is distri- 

 buted. In case of there being no roUer attached to the drOl, 

 a light wooden roller is passed over the sown part before 

 the drills become dry, so that there may be no seed lying 

 dormant until rain falls. The seed should be new, for plants 

 from old seed are more apt to run to seed than new. Five 

 pounds of seed are usually sown per acre. 



Chicory land is mostly very prolific in annual weeds — as 

 Chiokweed, Groundsel, &c. : therefore the hoe should be 

 plied between the rows immediately the plants indicate 

 where the rows are. When the plants are fairly in rough 

 leaf they should be thinned to a distance of 6 inches apart, 

 taking away the weakest and leaving only the strongest. 

 In thinning it is a good plan to strike the drills crosswise 

 ■with a hoe 5 inches wide (also termed a Chicory-hoe, for this 

 plant, being a special crop, has tools especially set apart 

 for its cultivation from beginning to end), taking two rows 

 at once, a boy or woman following the striker to single out 

 the plants. In a short time after the singling-out the whole 

 Tsill require hoeing again, and the rows to be run over to 

 make sure of the plants standing singly or at the proper 

 distance apart. After this the hoes are plied to keep down 

 weeds and benefit the plant by frequently stirring the 

 surface. Weeds must not under any cfrcumstances be 

 allowed to get ahead, nor the sm-face to become baked and 

 hard, for this would render the jiroduce inferior in size and 

 quality. This crop cannot be too highly cultivated, nor can 

 the soU be hoed too often until the plants attain the size 

 when hoeing would injure the crop by breaking the leaves. 



After discontinuing hoeing, the plants need no further 

 attention until November, when the roots have to be taken 

 up. This operation is effected by means of a Chicory-spade 

 which is handled Ulce another spade, so far as the shaft and 

 hilt are concerned ; but the diggiug part is only about 

 2 inches wide and 1 inch in thickness, and is thinner towards 



the bottom. This implement * is about 1 foot 6 inches ia 

 length of blade, and a shoulder is put on the shaft on which 

 the foot is placed in thrusting it into the soU. This instrument 

 is thrust down by the side of the Chicory plant as near to it 

 and as perpendicularly as possible. The operator then com- 

 mences " prising," or weighing down with the right or left 

 hand, whichever he happens to have on the hilt of the spade, 

 and thus cuts or breaks the root a good depth below the 

 surface, and having the top in his other hand the root is 

 di'awn up and laid on the surface. He does this in half a 

 minute. After him follow women or boys, who cut the tops 

 off quite close, and throwing the roots into rows they are 

 put into carts and taken to be washed. A running stream 

 is best for this purpose. A sort of crate made of laths is 

 used. It is 6 feet long and 3 feet wide, the laths being nailed 

 so that half-inch interstices or openings are between them. 

 The crate is open at the top. It is fixed with four stakes 

 so as to be clear of the bottom of the stream, that du-t may 

 pass away, and into it the Chicory is put. With a short- 

 headed wooden rake with very long teeth the Chicoiy is 

 moved to and fro until white and clean, when it is put into 

 carts as clean as the Chicory itself, and conveyed to the kUn 

 to be prepared for the grocer. Care must be taken to well 

 wash the Chicory, and to cut the tops quite close, or the 

 Chicory -drier will cavil about it, probably reject it owing to 

 its not being delivered according to bargain, or take so much 

 per ton off for the dfrt on the roots and the waste of the top, 

 which must be done before it is dried, for Chicory is gritty 

 enough without dirt. The roots are then cut transversely 

 into slices and dried in a kUn ; but I omit the process, 

 as no written du-ections would avail "J. S." without plans 

 and details which I am not provided with. Personal inspec- 

 tion and practice are necessary to the proper drying of 

 Chicory, and a kUn is hardly necessary for one grower. The 

 iisual i^lan is to sell the raw produce to the owner of a kiln, 

 as a kiln wiU dry the produce of several gi-owers. 



After Chicoi-y is dried it is sold to the Cliicory-roaster, by 

 whom it is submitted to the action of heat in closed fron 

 cylinders similar to coffee, and after roasting the slices are 

 broken into what are called " nibs." The roaster not un- 

 frequently uses a small portion of fatty matter, as lard, in the 

 course of the process, and, finally, though not always, dusts 

 the " nibs " over %vith some red colouring matter, as Vene- 

 tian red, to impart brilliancy of colour. 



The produce of an acre of Chicory is from four to five and 

 even six tons, and the roots were formerly worth from ^£8 10s. 

 to .£10 10s. per ton; but now I am informed by Chicoiy- 

 growers, that it is not worth growing, as it impoverishes the 

 land, and does not pay so well as other agricultural produce. 

 For these reasons they have given up growing it. Where 

 once there were an hundred acres of Chicory in a township, 

 now there are none but the roots that have escaped fr-om 

 cultivation. 



Analysis shows that Chicory contains none of the active 

 principles of the three non-alcoholio beverages — tea, coffee, 

 and cocoa. It contains none of thefr refreshing and invi- 

 gorating properties, having neither thein, nor caffein, the 

 respective active principles of tea and coffee : therefore, it 

 is very questionable indeed whether an infusion of Chicory 

 roots is of any value as a beverage. It certainly is no sub- 

 stitute for coffee, but it is said to be an aperient, and at 

 other times acts as a diuretic. Taken along with coffee in 

 the proportion of 35 per cent., it is said to produce a sense 

 of weight at the stomach, causes langoiu- and headache, and 

 has been assigned as one of the exciting causes of amam'osis. 

 It contains no essential oil, therefore, has not the fragrance of 

 coffee. Dandelion roots make as good coffee as Chicory, 

 and are a better medicine, though neither of them ought to 

 be taken as an article of diet, yet popular taste seems as if 

 it ran after the most nauseating draughts. — George Abbey. 



GEKANitm Leaves foe Cuts. — The leaves of Geraniums 

 are an excellent application for cuts, where the skin is 

 rubbed off, and other wounds of that kind. One or two 

 leaves must be bruised, and applied on linen to the part, 

 and the wound will become cicatrised in a vei'y short time. 

 — Miss Fet_ 



• It is the best of all implements for eradicating Docks in meadows or 

 pastures. 



