WAYS TO HANDLE CHICORY 185 



enough for its thrift during the long, dry summer. The plant is 

 hardy and the seed is usually sown in February. The preparation 

 of the soil, sowing, thinning, weeding and cultivation, are identical 

 with the same operations for the sugar beet already described. The 

 expense with chicory is, at present at least, considerably greater than 

 with the beets, because the moist land which is used gives more per- 

 sistent weed growth and occasions an amount of hard work which 

 is appalling to an observer. The crop partly compensates for this 

 outlay, because the value per ton is twice as great as the sugar beet, 

 and the crop is not enough less in weight to equalize things. The 

 average crop on Roberts island near Stockton in favorable years is 

 about ten tons to the acre, though some years the average will go 

 to twelve and the best crops to fifteen tons per acre. The factory 

 price for the fresh root has usually been $10 per ton. The cost of 

 growing, including rent, ranges from $50 to $80 per acre. The soil 

 on Roberts island is a mixture of sediment and peat deep, rich, 

 light and moist; most admirably adapted to the root. 



Harvesting and Curing. From seed sown in February, har- 

 vesting continues from the middle of August to" the middle of Octo- 

 ber. Early gathering is necessary, as sun-dried chicory is better 

 than that cured by artificial heat. When ready for gathering a plow 

 is run along each side of the plants with subsoil cutter and lifter 

 attached, which loosens the roots so that they can be easily lifted 

 from the soil by the hand clean and ready for the cutting machine. 

 This operation is like the gathering of sugar beets, and the topping 

 or removal of the leaves is the same. 



When they reach the factory the roots are placed in the ma- 

 chine, which cuts them into cubic blocks three-fourths of an inch in 

 size. The drying platform comes in use next, and when the chicory 

 has been dried as far as sun power will dry it, it is placed in the 

 roasters, each holding two barrels, where it is roasted as coffee is 

 before being ground. From the roasters it goes to the mill, where 

 it is ground, put in barrels, and thus becomes the chicory of 

 commerce. 



The preparation of chicory for home use is a very simple opera- 

 tion and can be done with ordinary kitchen appliances. 



The variety grown is the "large-rooted Magdeburg," with 

 leaves entire and upright. 



THE ENDIVE. 



Though botanically a chicory, the endive in its uses is closely 

 allied with lettuce and is chiefly useful during the frosty period of 

 the year, for then its flavor is likely to be better than that of lettuce, 

 because it is able to grow more rapidly with low temperatures. As, 

 however, there is so much of California which does favor rapid 

 winter growth of lettuce the use of endive is correspondingly re- 

 stricted. Still in localities with heavy rainfall and long stretches of 

 chilly winter weather, the endive will give good supplies of salad 



