20 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 1908 



Winter Gardening Under Ground 



By Jacques Boyer 



ILD chicory grows spontaneously 

 throughout a rather wide re- 

 gion, but few people would 

 appreciate it as a salad if culti- 

 vation had not lessened the 

 bitterness of its dark green, in- 

 dented leaves with narrow ribs 

 and shaggy texture. The French and Belgian 

 market-gardeners have managed, by blanching 

 certain varieties during the winter, to produce 

 vegetables greatly prized by "gourmets" and 

 known in France under the names of "Barbe-de- 

 Capucin" and "Endives." 



In the outskirts of Paris this forcing is done 

 in an original manner in underground darkness 

 from which light is carefully excluded. 



To obtain the young "Barbe-de-Capucin" nec- 

 essary for blanching, the gardeners sow the seed 

 in open fields during April or June. The fields 

 are more or less well manured during the pre- 

 ceding year. They use from forty-four to fifty- 

 five pounds of grain to the "are" (one hundred 

 and seven and one-half square feet), planting in 

 rows distant from each other about eleven inches. They 

 gather the spindle-shaped roots afterward when they are 

 about thirty-nine one-hundredths of an inch at the shoulder. 

 Toward the end of the autumn or beginning of the winter 

 the young chicory plants are dug up with a fork, taking care 

 not to injure the roots. As soon as they are taken out the 

 leaves are cut off about half an inch above the shoulder, the 

 roots then being heaped up under a shed, where they are cov- 

 ered with the cut-off leaves to keep them from drying in 

 the air. 



According to an expert, M. Enfer, the return for each 

 "are" is, under good conditions, twenty-five bundles of roots 



f/»> 



Preparation of " Barbe-de-Capucin " and " Endive " Roots 



Gathering " Barbe-de-Capucin " 



about half an inch in diameter. As soon as the digging 

 up is finished, the roots are measured, only the upper ex- 

 tremity remaining free. On the evenings when freezing 

 weather is feared, dry leaves or litter are thrown over the 

 heaps. The forcer draws on this reserve according to 

 his needs. 



The next stage is the blanching proper. In his dark cellar, 

 with ventilators hermetically sealed, the market-gardener 

 builds a bed of manure capable of giving off a heat of from 

 eighteen to twenty degrees Centigrade, which he covers with 

 from two to two and one-half feet of pure loam. Then, 

 while the bed is giving off this heat, he takes from the meas- 

 ure the roots necessary for the first series of 

 forcings, and a woman removes the dirt that 

 adheres to them before proceeding any 

 farther. This woman carefully picks off the 

 spoiled or dried leaves, leaving only the cen- 

 tral sprout, if it is intact, rejecting it if it 

 shows the least trace of decomposition. By 

 means of the primitive instrument which is 

 shown beside her in the illustration — an in- 

 strument made of two uprights nailed to a 

 chair — between which she puts the cleaned- 

 off roots, she forms great bundles in which 

 all the shoulders are on exactly the same 

 level. She then ties each bundle solidly and 

 strongly near the top with a withe, and 

 toward the edges she puts a second binding 

 somewhat loser than the first. She cuts off 

 the ends of the roots that are too long, and 

 nothing then remains but to take them down 

 into the underground chamber. 



There they are simply placed on the bed, 

 pushed one closely against the other. Under 

 the influence of the luke-warm heat of the 

 cellar, the plants grow rapidly, and at the 

 end of two or three weeks are in fit condition 

 for eating. During this period they require 

 no other attention than a few waterings. To 



