CHICORY 



ing wheels, wanders the Chicory, an awkward, sprawl- 

 ing plant, bushy in form, sending forth strong woody 

 stems up which the pale blue blossoms climb. 



The plant is a composite, and the flowers in size and 

 structure are similar to those of the Dandelion, all the 

 florets being strap-shaped and fertile. At the base 

 of the flowering stems is a cluster of spreading leaves 

 lying on the ground. 



The flower-heads appear singly or in twos and 

 threes, alternate upon the lengthening stems which 

 are from two to three feet high and which by mid- 

 summer have acquired a collection of ripening heads, 

 opening flowers, and varied buds. At the end of tlie 

 season the last flower surmounts the stem and surveys 

 the wreck of summer's glory. The blossom is of ex- 

 quisite beauty, every floret is a ray, every ray is fer- 

 tile, and aU are blue — pale, tender blue — "to match 

 the sky." This blue varies with age and atmosphere, 

 but the color is fundamentally blue. Short-lived, they 

 last but a day, and once closed never open again. 



This root dried and ground is universally used as 

 an adulterant of coffee, which gives it a commercial 

 value, and a perverted taste affirms that coffee is 

 better when associated with Chicory. During the 

 Civil War the plant was cultivated especially for this 

 use, but after the war the industry languished and the 

 seeds from the neglected plantations found homes for 

 themselves. The plant is common in Ohio and west- 

 ward but its chosen home seems to be New England, 

 centering in Boston and its suburbs. At least in the 

 morning, from June until October, the waste places of 

 the city are illumined with the shimmer of a divine 

 blue over the green of the grass and the tangle of weeds. 

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