676 



ACETARIACEOUS ESCULENTS. 



ought not to be done till the plant is almost fully grown, for blanched leaves 

 can no longer add any strength to the root. This operation ought only to be 

 performed in dry days, and when the leaves are quite dry ; and in winter, 

 when the weather is dry without frost. The mode of performance is as 

 follows : — When the plants are well filled up in the heart, and apparently 

 nearly fully grown, put your fingers under the leaves which rest upon the 

 ground, and gather the whole plant up in your hands into a conical form ; 

 then tie it round with strands of matting, loose during summer, but tighter 

 late in autumn and in winter, when the plant grows slower ; arranging the 

 leaves so as to terminate in a point at the top, in order to prevent rain 

 from falling into the heart of the plant. The curled endive, if carefully 

 earthed up^ will blanch tolerably well without being tied ; but the broad- 

 leaved variety, from its looser growth, hearts and blanches much better 

 when bandaged. The blanching, when the weather is hot and dry, will 

 sometimes be completed in a week ; but late in autumn and during winter 

 it will require a fortnight or a month. As soon as it is properly blanched, 

 it should be taken up for use, as it will rot afterwards in a week or less, 

 more especially if much rain fall. Sometimes blanching is effected by laying 

 a flat tile on the plants ; setting tiles or boards on each side of them, and 

 bringing them together at top in the form of a ridge, so as to confine their 

 growth and exclude the light ; or covering them with garden-pots or 

 blanching-pots, in the manner of sea-kale. In the north of Spain the 

 blanching of endive is generally effected by covering the heart of the plant 

 with a fragment of tile ; " over this a light covering of earth is sifted. The 

 fringed edges of the exterior leaves are carefully freed from earth, and 

 exposed to light ; having small bits of tile laid over that portion of the 

 soil from which they protrude, to render the blanching perfect, and produce 

 what the gardeners particularly pride themselves on,viz. : a plant of endive 

 white all over, excepting the edges of the outer leaves, which should show 

 about two inches of green." — (^Churchill in Gard. Chron., 1842, p. 452.) 



1510. A crop may be preserved through the winter, either by covering it 

 where it stands by thatched hurdles raised on props (fig. 329 in p. 401) ; by 

 hoops and mats ; by removing it with balls to an open airy shed ; by covering 

 it with dry litter, taking it off every fine day; or, what is best of all, covering 

 it where it stands with frames and sashes, taking the latter off every fine day. 

 During the period that the endive is covered, tying up for blanching must 

 go regularly on with every plant about ten days or a fortnight before it is to 

 be gathered. 



The endive is little troubled with insects ; but snails and slugs attack it, as 

 they do the lettuce, in every stage, and require to be kept under by frequent 

 waterings with lime-water. 



Seed may be saved as in the lettuce, and it will keep good four or five 

 3'ears. 



SuBSECT. III. — The Succory. 



1511. The succory, chiccory, or wild endive, Cichorium Intybus L. 

 (Chicoree sauvage, Fr,\ is a ciehoraceous fusiform-rooted perennial, a native 

 of England, in chalky soils, in open situations. It is much cultivated on 

 the Continent for its roots, which are cut in slices, kiln-dried, and ground as 

 a substitute for coffee ; and for its leaves, which are blanched and used like 

 those of the endive. It is also sown thick, and when quite young cut as 

 small salad fl506). In Flanders the roots are scraped and boiled, and eaten 



