268 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



leaves are removed, and the plants are prepared for blanching, 

 which is effected either by spreading clean, sharp sand 4 inches 

 deep over the whole of the bed, or by covering each plant with 

 an inverted garden-pot. The leaves should not be tied up, and 

 the inside of the pot should be perfectly clean. By heaping 

 stable manure or some fermenting material round the pots, the 

 crop can be advanced several weeks. If blanching be not thought 

 necessary, simply throwing a mat over the plants just as they 

 begin to grow after winter greatly improves the tenderness and 

 flavour. 



Three garden varieties are chiefly grown in France : — 



1. Broad-leaved Dandelion (Pissenlit tres hdtif a large 

 feuille). This is very early, and makes a broad but thin rosette 

 of leaves. It is often cooked. 



2. Solid-hearted or Cabbaging Dandelion (P. d cceur plain) 



Fig. 5. — Solid-hearted Dandelion. 



is more remarkable for the great number than for the size of its 

 leaves. Instead of a single whorl it produces a great many, and 

 forms a perfect tuft of dense green foliage, which being blanched 

 supplies a large amount of very crisp, white, nutty, and slightly 

 bitter salad. This is the variety grown by market gardeners. 



3. Moss or Curled Dandelion (P. mousse). This is rather 

 like the former, but much more finely cut and curled. It is very 

 pretty, but yields rather less than the solid-hearted variety. It 

 is a garden sort. All three kinds come true from seed. 



Chicory : Everyone knows, at least by name, the large-rooted 

 Chicory, the fleshy roots of which are extensively grown in 

 Flanders, where they are sliced, dried and browned by heat, and 

 powdered, yielding by that process an adjunct to, a substitute 



