44 Profitableness of Chicory. 



Michaelmas. On 4^ acres, which were sown broadcast 

 witli chicory, ten sheep an acre were kept the first year, 

 1796, from first week in April to July 22, and then seven 

 per aci'e to end of October. In 1797 it kept seven sheep 

 per acre, and they had done well. Mr. May, near Ipswich, 

 found chicory the best plant for sheep feed on poor dry 

 soils, and that it did not suffer from dry weather like 

 sainfoin or burnet ; and he observed it to grow 7 inches 

 in three weeks, while the two latter plants, on the same 

 soil, in the same field, as near together as possible, 

 grew no more than 4 inches. Numerous evidences were 

 given by Arthur Young to prove that the produce of 

 chicory is at least equal to that of any known plant in 

 this climate. It remains many years in the ground. 

 From his experiments, 62 tons 18 cwt. of the green 

 produce was cut in a year. " It will yield a profitable 

 support," he says, " for sheep when the more comnion 

 plants have almost entirely failed." Chicory hay is as 

 readily eaten by live stock as any other. In the South 

 of Scotland clover falls off so much in the second, and 

 still more in the third, year that a farmer sowed on a 

 large scale a mixture of chicory, and the plants kept the 

 ground so well that he was disposed to extend the 

 cultivation, but he was deterred by the price of the seed. 

 Chicory is difficult to eradicate when ploughing up, but 

 in no proportion that ought to render it any objection 

 to the culture. With reference to the duration of 

 chicory,* he mentions that in 1790 12 acres were sown 



* In 1893 the Haugh, 28 acres, was laid down, and in the mixture 

 were 2 lb. each of chicory and kidney vetch, and 3 lb. burnet. The 

 field was ploughed at the end of 1900, and turnips taken in 1901. The 

 turnips were a fine crop, and the land was very clean, though no 

 weeds were taken off. From the fence being shifted on the bank of 

 the Bowmont a narrow strip next the fence was left unploughed. 

 This showed in 1901 a fair proportion of burnet, chicory, and kidney 

 vetch. Two acres of this field were railed ofif, and lot to a blacksmith 

 for his cow. I particularly inquired whether any effect on the quantity 

 and quality of the milk had been produced by the chicory and burnet, 

 etc. No effects were perceived, but the cow certainly gained in con- 

 dition from the pasture, and became distinctly fatter. 



