164 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



extent. It is the Chicorfie mousse of the 

 French. 



Staghorn endive. — A variety of no long stand- 

 ing ; leaves upright, much cut and jagged at their 

 points, which accounts for the name. It hearts 

 well, but is very tender, running to seed too 

 soon, and being impatient of wet and cold. Use- 

 ful as a summer endive, but useless for winter 

 crops. 



Insects and diseases. — Endive is pretty well 

 exempt from both, but, like most tender escu- 

 lents, is often attacked by slugs (Lknaa) and 

 snails {Helix) ; but these can readily be subdued 

 , by dusting over with powdered lime, or watering 

 with lime-water. Several species of the genus 

 lulus, or snake millepedes, attack the roots of en- 

 dive. We have lately discovered lulus pulchellus, 

 fig. 48, /. terrestris, and /. complinatus, abun- 

 dant about the roots of endive plants in a cold 

 pit. In the quarters where they grew, hundreds 

 have been dug up during November and Decem- 

 ber, notwithstanding the plants were repeatedly 

 watered vrith lime and soot water during their 

 growth; and even nitrate of soda was pretty pro- 

 fusely applied at the time of digging the ground. 

 In some seasons, however, lime and soot water 

 have been found to save the plants; and a single 

 experiment made this last season seems to argue 

 in favour of flowers of sulphur being sown in 

 the drills previous to the plants being planted 

 out; and this, no doubt, would have acted better 

 had the sulphur been buried deeper. 



General remarks. — The seeds of endive are 

 saved in the same way as those of chicory and 

 lettuce (which see). The European names are 

 Chicor^e des Jardins in French ; Endivia in 

 Italian ; and in German and Dutch the same ; 

 Endibia in Spanish. 



§ 5. — SUCCORY. 



Natural history. — Succory, chicory, or wild 

 endive (^Oichorium intybus L.), belongs to the 

 natural order Compositse, sub-order Cichoracese, 

 and tribe Cichoreas, and to the class Syngene- 

 sia, and order jEqualis. The generic name is of 

 Egyptian origin, adopted by the Greeks. The 

 plant has been used by the Egyptians from the 

 earliest ages, and it is most probable that they 

 would communicate to the Greeks its name, as 

 well as the manner of using it. Forskahl says 

 the Egyptian name was Chikouryeh. They did, 

 and still do, make their chicory of much conse- 

 quence ; and it is well known that it, along with 

 similar plants, constitutes half the food of the 

 Egyptian peasantry at this very day. The spe- 

 cific name intybus is derived from the Arabic 

 name Hendibeh ; and Pliny informs us that in 

 his day they called the wild endive (our chicory) 

 Ciohorium, and the cultivated sort (our endive) 

 they call Serfs. According to Phillips, the gar- 

 den endive was cultivated in England in the 

 reign of Edward VI. ; " but the wild endive or 

 succory," he adds, " intubus, being indigenous 

 to the soil, was grown in aU probability at a 

 much earlier period, both as a pot herb and as 

 a salad ; " and Gerard informs us that " the leaves 

 of these wild herbs are boiled in pottage, or 



broths, for sick and feeble persons ; " and this 

 generally correct authority adds that the wild 

 endives (our chicory) " do grow wild in sundry 

 places in England, upon wild and untilled barren 

 ground, especially in chalk and stony places." 

 There can be therefore no doubt that, culti- 

 vated or uncultivated, the chicory was in his day, 

 1548, sufficiently well known. 



The chicory is indigenous to many p^rts of 

 the south of England, particularly in chalky 

 soils, and it has been long cultivated in Italy, 

 France, and other parts of the Continent as an 

 agricultural plant, the leaves being used as green 

 food for cattle, and the roots, when kiln-dried 

 and ground, as a substitute for coffee. It has 

 also been long used in these countries as a salad 

 herb, the leaves and roots both being used ; 

 " yet in this country," says Loudon, " it had not 

 attracted the notice of horticulturists till after 

 the time of Miller." A revival of its uses was 

 no doubt brought to England, from the Conti- 

 nent, after the general peace in 1814-15. 



Use. — In other countries, as we have stated 

 above, it has been extensively and profitably 

 grown, particularly in Holland and Flanders, 

 and has occupied a place in gardens for an un- 

 known length of time, the leaves being blanched, 

 and used as one of their most popular winter 

 salads. The blanched leaves are called Barbe 

 de Capucin, or Friar's beard. In Belgium the 

 roots are scraped and boiled, and eaten along 

 with potatoes, or with a sauce of butter and 

 vinegar. The roots have been taken on board 

 ship, and planted in boxes filled with sand, and 

 in this way afforded wholesome salads for 

 months together. Its principal use is as a sub- 

 stitute for endive, and it is employed for the 

 same purposes. 



The mode of propagation is by sowing 

 the seed. A quarter of a pound will, be 

 suificient for an ordinary private garden, 

 as it is light, somewhat like endive, to 

 which it is closely related. 



Sowing and planting. — The seeds ai'e 

 sown, towards the end of June, in rich 

 deeply-trenched ground. Sow thin, and 

 cover about one quarter of an inch. When 

 the plants come up, thin them to the dis- 

 tance of 6 or 7 inches apart, transplanting 

 those thinned out into another piece of 

 ground equally manured and trenched, to 

 allow the long fusiform roots to extend 

 deep into it. Some sow, after the Flemish 

 manner, in the broadcast way, and trans- 

 plant on the same system. The drill mode 

 is, however, better in both cases: the 

 drills should be 9 inches apart, and the 

 plants 6 inches distant in the row; for 

 the stronger the plants are, and the more 

 room the foliage has for development, the 

 more elaborated matter will be thrown 

 into the roots ; and it is this prepared 

 matter, stored up in them during their 



