234 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



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my farm. I bought the seed last spring at Thorburn's, in John street, and 

 it was planted in drills, side by side with carrots, and treated in the same 

 way, and will yield probably half as much per acre. The roots may be 

 dug, as parsneps are, in autumn or spring, and when once in the ground 

 are about as difficult to eradicate as horse-radish. We dug some of the 

 roots this winter, washed, and sliced, and dried them, and then browned 

 and added to the coffee as much bulk as there was coffee, and find the 

 beverage not deteriorated in value, so far as the taste, smell and pleasant 

 flavor are concerned. Where chiccory is grown as a crop it is dried upon a 

 kiln, such as the hop growers use. It may be dried in any way that fruit, 

 roots or herbs are dried, and it may be kept as well as any of those arti- 

 cles. As to its value for family use, I have no idea that it is any more 

 deleterious than coffee, and certainly not as much as tobacco. Its value, 

 commercially, I cannot give, but believe that it can be grown and sold in 

 a green state at the price of potatoes. There is no market for the roots in 

 a green state, but the dried article is salable, and is largely imported. It 

 is a pity that all that is used in this country could not be grown here. 



Dr. Trimble. — I hope this Club will not recommend the cultivation of 

 chiccory, because its use is deleterious to health; its effect is intoxicating. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — I do not recommend its cultivation or use; nor do 

 I recommend tobacco, rum or coffee; nor do I refuse to tell others how to 

 grow corn, because it may be converted into whisky. We are constantly 

 recommending the cultivation of grapes, and telling how to make wine. I 

 think that we should give information to people who desire to grow chic- 

 cory, and I am glad to hear Mr. Pardee offer to procure such information. 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — If the Club decide not to give any information or 

 encouragement to the growers of chiccory, in a moral point of view, let us 

 also refuse information about hops, and barley, and tobacco. As to the 

 price of chiccory, I find that a short time since it was worth ten cents per 

 pound; now, twenty cents, in a dried state, ready for use; and I believe at 

 this price it is better for the country to grow it, than import it. 



Flax Growing in Iowa. 



Mr. Solon Robinson read a letter from Tipton, Cedar county, Iowa, ask- 

 ing information about machinery to clean flax. 



The writer thinks that if Iowa farmers had some way of converting the 

 flax straw into a salable product, many of them would grow flax instead of 

 wheat, which fails about half the time to make a remunerating crop, while 

 flax almost uniformly produces a good crop. 



The Secretary. — The Club appointed a committee last year to examine^ 

 and report upon Messrs Sanford & Mallory's flax dressing machine; and the 

 managers awarded it a gold medal. 



" Winter Care of Manure " was decided to be the subject for discussion 

 at the next meeting. 



Adjourned. JOHN W. CHAMBERS, Secretary. 



