CHICORY. 



SECTION I. 



INTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND. CONTINENTAL PRODUC- 

 TION AND CONSUMPTION. 



THE term chicory is an Anglicised French word, the original 

 being chicoree. The plant is known to botanists by the 

 name of Oichorium Intybus^ and belongs to the natural order 

 Composite, tribe Cichorea3. It is an indigenous plant with a 

 perennial root, better known probably to most readers by its 

 English appellation of wild succory. The root is spindle- 

 shaped, with a single or double head ; externally it is whitish 

 or greenish yellow ; internally, whitish, fleshy, and milky. 

 The roots grown in this country are smaller, and more woody 

 or fibrous than those which are imported from the Continent. 



The cultivation and consumption of chicory have now at- 

 tained a very great importance, not only on the Continent, 

 but also in the United Kingdom. Dating its extended use 

 chiefly from the system pursued by the first Napoleon to 

 substitute home-grown for colonial products, it has gradually 

 become approved and popularised for a beverage, either used 

 alone or more generally mixed with coffee, in numerous 



