42 Chicory Introduced hy Arthur Young. 



the reader has seen, most favourable experience on 

 this property. 



Chicory (Cichorium intyhus) was first cultivated in 

 England by Arthur Young. In 1787 he found it not 

 uncommon in France, and applied to considerable profit 

 by that intelligent husbandman, Mons. Crette. The 

 produce was so great, and exceeding that of any other 

 plant known, that Young determined to introduce it into 

 England. " Of all the grasses,"* he says, " it is perhaps 

 the most universal grower if managed and applied with 

 attention." It was probably first cultivated by the 

 Italians. In 1780 it was remarked by a French' writer 

 that sheep are very fond of it. It is indigenous every- 

 where in Lombardy, and is found in the watered 

 meadows freely eaten by every sort of cattle, especially 

 by cows when it is young, and it affords much milk. 



Mons. Crette sows in March, and mows once in the 

 same year. His practice was to dung the land in winter. 

 In the following year he cut thrice, and parts of the 

 land four times. Mons. Crette used much in soiling, 

 and with great success, for horses, cows, young cattle, 

 and calves. It is greedily eaten by all, and gives good 

 cream and butter. It is not hurt by drought. He "used 

 20 lb. of seed for rather less than an English acre. No 

 meadows, natural or artificial, can compare with chicory. 

 Lucerne gives only 4^ tons of hay per English acre, while 

 chicory will give 11 tons. The dry fodder is well eaten, 

 but it is much better given green. Such were Mons. 

 Crette's experiences of chicory. 



In 1788 Arthur Young sowed 10 lb. of seed over 

 5 acres of barley on a good strong wet loam among 

 clover, trefoil, rib, and burnet, and found that the 

 chicory was always eaten by sheep, cows, and fattening 

 bullocks as close to the ground as any other plant in the 

 field. In 1788 he sowed it in drills a foot apart. It 

 produced in green weight in four years 119 tons, or 



' The old writers, and farmers in general now, always use the term 

 grasses for all plants used with grass mixtures. 



