Endive 



111 



45. Seeds (fruits) of en- 

 dive (about 414). 



or head by gathering all the leaves into a bunch and tying 

 them near the top. This tying is performed two or three 

 weeks before the plant is desired for use. In very hot and 

 wet weather the heads are sometimes 

 blanched in ten days; but under or- 

 dinary conditions it requires nearly 

 or quite twice that lejigth of time. 

 If heavy rains and cloudy weather 

 follow the tying, the crowns must 

 be examined frequently to see that 

 they are not decaying. After the 

 interior leaves are well blanched, they must be used 

 quickly or decay will set in; they should be dry when tied. 

 The later plants, taken up in autumn, are sometimes 

 blanched by being set in cellars or pits or coldframes; 

 or if the heads are packed securely in well-ventilated bar- 

 rels, they may blanch in transportation. 



On the blanching of endive, S. N. Green comments 'as 

 follows (Mo. Bull. Ohio Exp. Sta. No. 33), with particular 



reference to trea,t- 

 ment of the crop 

 grown under glass 

 (Fig. 44) : " The 

 blanching of the 

 greenhouse grown 

 crop is the most dif- 

 ficult part of the 

 culture of endive 

 under glass, and as yet no perfectly satisfactory method has 

 been found. In the field, especially in the cool fall months, 

 blanching is not difficult. Any sort of a covering-that will 



46. Seedlings of endive (X %). 



