488 TPIE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XXVIII. 



any dark place where a little beat might be used to start the 

 blanched leaves in winter. Should the taste be too bitter to those 

 unaccustomed to it, or who do not like bitter salads, the addition 

 of Corn Salad, Celery, or Beetroot, improves and modifies the 

 flavour, and makes it a very distinct and agreeable salad. The 

 gardeners of the commune of Montr euil sow every year in spring 

 a large quantity of common Chicory for the purpose of forcing 

 the Barbe de Capucin. In autumn the roots are taken up with 

 the fork, care being taken not to break them. They are then laid 

 by the heels so as to have them always ready for use ; and in 

 October, the season when such work is usually commenced, a hot- 

 bed about sixteen inches deep is prepared, the heat of which is 

 from 65° to 80' Fahr. The most favourable position for such a 

 hotbed is in a cave or in a deep cellar without light or air. When 

 the heat of the bed has somewhat abated, the plants are tied up in 

 bundles after carefully removing all the dead leaves and other 

 portions liable to produce mouldiness, after which they are placed 

 upright on the bed and watered. From the time the Barbe begins 

 to grow, these waterings must be given with judgment, so as to 

 prevent the interior of the bundles from rotting. At the end of 

 fifteen or eighteen days, the salad is long enough to be gathered. 

 The Chicory can be blanched from autumn up to March and April ; 

 after every gathering, however, the spent heating- material should 

 be removed, and replaced by a fresh suj)ply, so as always to keep 

 the bed at the same degree of warmth. Chicory possesses many 

 excellent qualities, which should recommend it to more general 

 attention than it now enjoys. It is of easy culture, is not at all 

 fastidious as to soil, and may, therefore, be grown largely by those 

 who cannot devote much time or attention to the culture of choice 

 salading. Even where Lettuces and Endive are extensively grown. 

 Chicory should find a place, as its addition to the salad-bowl 

 imparts a piquancy which cannot well be obtained by any other 

 ingredient. It is largely used and much esteemed as a winter 

 salad in many parts of France, and, in common with the Dandelion, 

 it there enjoys the reputation of possessing peculiar blood-purifying 

 principles. 



ScAROLE (Broad-leaved Batavian Endive).— This fine salad 

 occupies a considerable space in the culture of the Paris market- 

 gardens. It ought to be more generally grown in England, being 



