SUCCORY. 



215 



sheltered situation, where it may be able to withstand the 

 winter, which it will do, unless the frost prove very intense. 

 When the plants have reached their maturity, the leaves 

 are gathered up, and tied together an inch or two below 

 the tips, and afterwards about the middle of the plant. In 

 two or three weeks they are found sufficiently blanched for 

 use. In winter it is necessary to draw the earth quite up 

 about the leaves. At that season, too, the plants may be 

 inserted into a sloping bank of earth, or blanched in boxes 

 in the mushroom-house or in a cellar 



SUCCORY (Cichorium Intybus) is in England an indige 

 nous perennial plant, the cultivation of which, for culinary 

 purposes, may be said to have been introduced into Britain 

 by the refugees during the French revolutionary war. By 

 the French it is much esteemed as a winter salad, and be 

 ing often asked for by foreign cooks, a small portion should 

 be raised in every large garden establishment. When 

 blanched, it is known by the name of Barbe du Capuchin. 

 When succory is cultivated in the garden for winter use, 

 the seed is sown in May or June, commonly in drills, and 

 the plants are thinned out to four inches apart. If the 

 first set of leaves grow very strong, owing to wet weather, 

 they are cut off perhaps in the middle of August, about an 

 inch from the ground, so as to promote the production of 

 new leaves, and check -the formation of flower-stems. 

 About the beginning of October the plants are raised from 

 the border ; all the large leaves are cut off; the roots are 

 also shortened. They are then planted pretty closely together 

 in boxes filled with rich light mould, and watered when 

 needful. When frost comes on, the boxes are protected by 

 any kind of haulm. As the salad is wanted, they are 

 removed into some place having a moderately increased 



