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C I C 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



C I C 



sowing should be about the middle of June; and the last in 

 the middle of July : these three crops will furnish a suppli 

 for the whole season, as there will be plants from each sowing 

 very different in their growth, so that there will be three dif- 

 ferent crops from the same beds. When the plants appear 

 they must be weeded, and watered in dry weather, to keep 

 them growing until they be fit to transplant, and should then 

 be removed to a rich spot of open ground, well dug, levelled, 

 and, if very dry, it must be well watered, to prepare it to 

 receive the plants, the largest of which should then be drawn 

 carefully out of the seed-bed, so as not to break their roots, 

 leaving the smaller ones to acquire more strength. As the 

 plants are drawn up, they should be placed with their roots 

 even, all the same way, and every handful as they are drawn 

 should have the tops of their leaves shortened, to make them 

 of equal length ; then the ground should be marked out in rows 

 at one foot asunder, and the plants set ten inches distant in the 

 rows, closing the earth well to the roots : they should be well 

 watered every other evening, till the plants have taken good 

 root, and afterwards should be kept clean from weeds. When 

 the plants of the seed-bed have been thus thinned, they also 

 should be well cleaned and watered, which will encourage the 

 growth of the remaining plants, so that in ten days or a fort- 

 night after, there may be another thinning made by removing 

 some more plants, which should be transplanted as above 

 described ; and about the same distance of time, the third and 

 last drawing of plants may be transplanted. Those plants 

 which wen first transplanted will befit to blanch by the latter 

 end of July at farthest; and if they be properly managed, in 

 three weeks or a month will be fit for use, which will be as 

 soon as these salads are commonly required; for during the 

 continuance of good Cos-lettuce, few persons care for Endive 

 in their salads ; nor indeed, is it so proper for warm weather. 

 If any of the plants should put out flower-stems, they must 

 be immediately pulled up, and carried away as good for no- 

 thing. As the quantity of roots necessary for the supply of 

 a middling family is not very great, there should not be too 

 many plants tied up to blanch at the same time ; therefore 

 the largest should be first tied, and in a week after those of 

 the next size, so that there may be three different times of 

 blanching the plants, on the same spot of ground : but as 

 in some large families there is a great consumption of this 

 herb for soups, the quantity of plants should be proportion- 

 ably greater, at each time of planting and blanching. In 

 order to blanch Endive, provide a parcel of small osier twigs 

 or bass-mats, to tie up some of the largest heads, which 

 should be done in a dry afternoon, when there is neither dew 

 nor rain to moisten the leaves in the middle of the plants, 

 which would occasion their rotting soon after their being 

 tied up ; the manner of doing it is as follows : First gather up 

 all the inner leaves of the plant in a regular order, into one 

 hand, and then take up those on the outside which are sound, 

 pulling off and throwing away all the rotten and decayed 

 leaves which lie next the ground, observing to place the out- 

 side leaves all round the middle ones, as nearly as possible 

 in the natural order of their growth, so as not to cross each 

 other ; then having grasped the whole plant close up in your 

 hand, tie it up with the twig, bass, &c. at about two inches 

 below the top, very close, and about a week after go over 

 the plants again, and give them another tie about the middle, 

 to prevent the heart-leaves from bursting out on one side, 

 which they are subject to do as the plants grow, if not thus 

 prevented ; in doing this, you need only tie up the largest 

 plants first, and so go over the piece once a week, as the 

 plants increase in their growth, by which means you will 

 continue the crop longer than if they were all tied up at one 



time ; for when they are quite blanched, which will be in 

 about three weeks or a month after tying, they will not hold 

 sound and good above ten days or a fortnight, especially if 

 the season prove wet, and it is on this account that I would 

 advise sowing at three or four different seasons, that you may 

 have a supply as long as the weather will permit ; but in 

 order to this, you must transplant all the plants of the last 

 sowing under warm walls, pales, or hedges, to screen the 

 plants from frost; and if the winter should prove very sharp, 

 you should cover them with some pease-haulm, or such other 

 light covering, which should be constantly taken off in miUl 

 weather : these borders should also be as dry as possible, for 

 the plants are very subject to rot, if planted in a moist soil in 

 winter. Although it has been before directed that the plants 

 should be tied up in order to blanch them, yet this is only 

 to be understood for the two first sowings ; for after October, 

 when the nights begin to be frosty, those plants which are 

 so far above ground will be liable to be much injured thereby, 

 especially if they remain uncovered in frosty weather; there- 

 fore the best method is, to take up your plants .of the latter 

 sowings in a very dry day, and with a large flat-pointed dib- 

 ble plant them into the sides of trenches of earth, which 

 should be laid very upright, planting them sideways on the 

 south side of the trenches, towards the sun, with the tops of 

 the plants only out of the ground, so that the hasty rains 

 may run off, and the plants be kept dry, and secured from 

 frosts. The plants thus planted will be blanched fit for use 

 in a month or live weeks' time, after which they will not 

 keep good more than three weeks before they will decay ; 

 you should therefore continue planting some fresh ones into 

 trenches every fortnight or three weeks, that you may have 

 a supply for the table ; and those which were last transplanted 

 out of the seed-beds should be preserved till February, 

 before they are planted to blanch, so that from this you may 

 be supplied until the beginning of April, or later ; for at 

 this last planting into the trenches it will keep longer than in 

 winter ; the days growing longer, and the sun advancing with 

 more strength, dries up the moisture much sooner than in 

 winter, which will prevent the rotting of these plants; but i 

 :he weather should prove frosty, these latter plantations o 

 Endive should be covered with mats and straw to preserve 

 ;hem, otherwise the frost will destroy them, but the coverings 

 must always be taken off when the weather is favourable 

 When your Endive is blanched enough for use, dig it up will 

 a spade, and, after having cleared it from all the outside green 

 ind decayed leaves, wash it well in two or three different 

 waters, to clean it the better from slugs, and other vermin, 

 Which commonly shelter themselves among the leaves. But 

 n order to have a supply of good seeds for the next season, 

 you must look over those borders where the last crop was 

 ransplanted, before you put them into the trenches to blanch, 

 and make choice of some of the largest, soundest, anil most 

 curled plants, in number according to the quantity of seeds 

 required : a dozen of plants will produce seeds enough for a 

 small family ; and for a large one, two dozen or thirty plants 

 vill be sufficient. These plants should be taken up, and 

 ransplanted under a hedge or pale, at about eighteen inches 

 listance, in one row, about ten inches from the hedge or 

 rale ; this should be done in the beginning of March, if the 

 eason be mild, otherwise it may be deferred a fortnight 

 onger : when the flower-stems begin to advance, they should 

 >e supported by packthread, which should be fastened to 

 nails driven into the pale, or to the stakes of the hedge, and 

 run along before tin- stem?, to draw them upright rinse to 

 he hedge or pale, otherwise they will be liable to break ill' 

 he strong winds. Observe also to keep them clear from 



