ROOTS AND TUBERS WE EAT 171 



learned from our foreign neighbors to appreciate 

 these two new things. The methods the gardeners 

 use to get them are interesting, and also very 

 simple. 



Any plant which grows a turnip-like root ex- 

 pects to use the food stored up in this fleshy 

 portion to send up a flower stalk next season, and 

 mature a crop of seeds. See how the gardener 

 thwarts the chicory's plan for perpetuating its 

 race. He wants leaves, not seeds. So he begins 

 in summer, when the tops are flourishing and the 

 roots swelling. He cuts off the top, a little above 

 the ground. The root hastens to send up a stock 

 of small leaves to do the work of those that are 

 gone. In autumn the largest leaves are again 

 docked, the roots shortened, and the plants taken 

 up, and set close together in boxes of rich soil. 

 When frost comes, watering ceases, and the boxes 

 are covered. As needed they are taken into a 

 dark, warm cellar where each root is able in a 

 short time to produce a head of crisp, blanched 

 leaves. These are the barbe de Capucin salads, 

 the particular delight of the French. Each 

 root will produce two crops of leaves six inches 

 long. 



"Witloof," the favorite winter salad of the 

 Belgians, is grown in a different way. The roots 



