234 THE CHICORY CROP. 



It has been long known and cultivated on the Conti- 

 nent 1 as a field crop for forage purposes, and also in the 

 gardens as an edible herb, its close alliance with the en- 

 dive (C. endivia) rendering it very valuable for early 

 salads and other culinary uses. In this country its cul- 

 tivation was limited to the kitchen garden until towards 

 the close of the last century, when we find Arthur Young" 

 growing it extensively on his own farm, and introducing 

 and recommending it for general field culture, as a crop 

 admirably adapted for the light deep soils, and capable 

 of furnishing a greater amount of keep than could be 

 obtained from any other crop under similar circumstances. 

 Being a perennial plant, of a hardy habit, and indigenous 

 to this country, it will remain productive for a greater 

 number of years than either of the other perennial crops 

 already described the sainfoin and lucerne being both 

 comparatively delicate plants, natives of other countries, 

 though susceptible of cultivation under favourable con- 

 ditions in this. The annual amount of produce is very 

 large, as the plant grows rapidly to a good height, and 

 will bear cutting three or four times in the season. Its 

 root-produce, too, for which, indeed, it is more commonly 

 cultivated, adds greatly to its value as a crop. This when 

 dug up, sliced, dried, and roasted, gives, on infusion in 

 boiling water, a sweet, dark-coloured extractive matter, 

 and is largely used in this country for mixing with coffee, 

 while in some parts of the Continent, especially the in- 

 land districts, it is used as a substitute for it altogether. 

 We are indebted for our acquaintance with this valuable 

 property of chicory, as we were for the sugar-producing 

 capabilities of beetroot r (see p. 456, vol. i.), to the cele- 

 brated Berlin and Milan decrees of the first Napoleon, 

 which forbade the admission of colonial produce, and thus 



1 It is so commonly met with in waste places in some countries on the 

 Continent, as to be known in Germany by the common name of " Wegwart.' 



