88 ENDIVE 



ENDIVE. 



Endive, like lettuce, is a salad plant that can be had all 

 through the summer and autumn ; but as the early sown 

 crop is liable to run to seed, owing to the heat of our sum- 

 mers, it is generally grown as an autumn salad. 



There are two distinct classes of it cultivated, of each 

 of which there are also several varieties. The one is known 

 as Curl-leaved Endive by the English, and by the French 

 is called Chicoree des Jardins, and, with its varieties, has 

 curled or frizzled leaves. The other class, with its varie- 

 ties, is known as Batavian Endive by the English, and by 

 the French is called Scarolle. It has broad smooth leaves. 



If early crops should be desired, the seed may be sown 

 at the same time as early lettuce, and the plants set out 

 and cultivated in the same way. They require the same 

 kind of soil as lettuce. FOT the autumn crop the seed 

 should be sown in June or July, and when the plants are 

 three or four inches high, which will be in August or Sep- 

 tember, they should be planted out in rows one foot apart 

 each away. The Batavian sorts, having larger leaves than 

 the curled-leaved sorts, will require to be planted fifteen 

 inches apart each way. If the planting is not done in 

 cloudy or moist weather, they should be watered when 

 planted. The after cultivation is the same as lettuce. 



It is always blanched before it is used, as otherwise it 

 has a bitter, unpleasant taste. There are three or four 

 ways of doing this. When the root leaves of the plants 

 have attained their full size, the leaves are to be gathered 

 up, and tied together at their tips with a bit of twine or 

 bast matting. The outer leaves thus tied up exclude the 

 air and light, and thus blanch the interior leaves. They 

 should be tied up when quite dry,,for if wet the interior 

 leaves will decay. 



