CHICORY, OR SUCCORY 



245 



cultivated, its produce is increased in quantity and improved in 

 quality, the leaves losing much of their natural bitterness. Forced 

 in darkness, in winter, it forms the highly esteemed blanched 

 vegetable known as Barbe-de-capucin. The large-rooted variety 

 of it, treated in the same way, produces the vegetable known in 

 Belgium by the name of Witloof. 



Culture. — The Common Chicory is an exceedingly easy plant 

 to grow. The seed is sown in spring, in the place where the crop 

 is to stand, in drills, or, more commonly, along the sides of 

 alleys, and is generally sown very thick, in order that the leaves 

 of the plants may be 

 closely crowded together. 

 The leaves are gathered 

 as they are wanted by 

 cutting them near the 

 ground with a sickle or 

 a knife. They may be 

 cut several times in the 

 same year. It is a good 

 plan to make a fresh 

 sowing every year, clear- 

 ing out the old plants 

 which have fallen off in 

 produce and are about 

 to run to seed. In 

 order to produce the 

 Barbe-de-capucin^ plants 

 are employed which have 

 been sown rather thinly 

 in the open ground 

 about the end of June. 

 At the beginning of 

 winter these are taken 

 up, and the leaves are trimmed off about \ in. above the neck of 

 the root ; then, in a dark cellar, or other place, the temperature 

 of which is not too cold, sloping heaps are made, composed of 

 alternate layers of sand or of soil taken from well-drained ground, 

 and of Chicory-roots placed horizontally and with the necks of the 

 roots pointing outwards, clear of the sand or soil, so that the leaves 

 may grow freely. If the soil used is too dry, a slight watering will 

 be necessary, after which the plants are left to themselves, and in 

 about three weeks' time, if the temperature is not too low, leaves 

 8 to 10 in. long may be gathered. 



A few years ago, in the neighbourhood of Paris, they began to 

 use for this purpose the Large-rooted Chicory, the roots of which 

 are allowed to attain the thickness of the finger before they are 



Chicory, or Succory (blanched) natural size). 



