CHAPTER XIX. 

 CHICORY. 



Large Rooted Chicory. Cichorium Intylus. 



French, chicoree sauvage; German, cichorie; Danish, 

 sichorie; Italian, cicoria; Spanish, achicoria; Portuguese, 

 chicoria. 



The Endive. Chicoria endivia. 



French, chicoree endive; German, endivien; Dutch, an- 

 dijvie ; Danish, endivien ; Italian, indivia ; Spanish, en- 

 divia. 



The chicory plant cuts a very small figure at present in 

 the general gardening of Californians. The use of the 

 blanched leaves, forced in the dark from mature roots 

 bedded in sand, is confined to a few foreigners who know 

 the larbe-de-capucin of the French or the witloof of the 

 Germans. It is a delicious vegetable, either raw, boiled, 

 or as a salad. Nor are the leaves in their natural state 

 much used here for salad. Both of these uses of the plant 

 should be more widely known in California, for the culti- 

 vated growth of the roots in this State is very fine, and 

 for running wild, as an escape from flower garden culture, 

 it might be denounced as a vile weed were not its large 

 blue flowers so beautiful upon the yellow of our dry sum- 

 mer fields and roadsides. 



Viewing the plant as, yielding a root rather than a foli- 

 age crop, it is of much importance in this State. The root, 

 sliced, dried, roasted and coarsely ground, is the "chic- 

 ory" of commerce the adulterant of coffee which nearly 

 every one denounces in theory and enjoys in practice ; for 

 the occurrence of absolutely pure coffee is so restricted 

 that it often, at first, offends the palate of the unaccustom- 



