SECTION II.. Cultivation, Harvesting, and Preparation for Market.

CULTIVATION, HARVESTING, AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET.

There are many varieties of this plant, the greater part of which have blue flowers; some are white, and others red. In Brunswick they only grow the broad-leaved, or native kind, or the small-leaved, which has long roots, and is a native of Magdeburg. The former is, however, preferred, on account of its being the richest. In Altona they grow a medium variety, which has neither very narrow nor very broad leaves. The plant thrives in all soils that will grow carrots; indeed, the mode of cultivating one is much like that of the other. The roots seem, however, to grow best upon a loamy soil, with a clayey subsoil, dry, deep, and rich. It very seldom thrives in heavy clay land, and never in sand or wet land. It requires much manure. In preparing the land deep ploughing is recommended; but, unless the soil is very deep, it is probable that subsoil ploughing will answer better. The surface must be well worked; indeed, it cannot be reduced to too fine a mould.

As the plants are a long time in coming up, generally five or six weeks from the time of sowing the seed, it is necessary that the land should be very clean, or the weeds (particularly chickweed) are liable to overtop and smother the young plants. The time of sowing varies in different districts; in the midland and eastern counties of England, the second or third week in May is considered best, for if sown earlier, many of the plants will run to seed, in which case they are called “runners” or “trumpeters,” and must be carefully dug out and destroyed when the time for taking up has arrived, because if allowed to become mixed with the bulk, they will spoil the sample. The best crops have been obtained when the seed has been sown broadcast; but the preference is usually given to drilling, the crop being more easily hoed and cleansed. The rows are generally from 9 to 12 inches apart, and about 3 or 4 lbs. of seed per acre is the quantity used.

Most of the cultivators of chicory single out the plants so as to leave spaces between them in the rows, each about 6 or 8 inches long; but there are many who do not do this, fancying that four or five small plants produce more weight of root than one large plant; the expediency of this, however, is very questionable, as it does not allow of the land being nearly so well cleaned as when the practice of singling is adopted.

In October or November, the work of taking up the roots may be commenced, and continued during the winter (if the crop cannot be previously secured), until it is finished. Although the roots penetrate a long way downwards, they become too thin below 14 or 15 inches to be useful, and the utmost care is also required in order to get up that portion of the root which will prove profitable.

In some cases chicory has been ploughed up, about 12 inches deep, with a strong cast-iron plough drawn by six horses, having men to fork each furrow to pieces with common potato-forks before a second furrow is ploughed upon it, and women and children following to pick up the roots and cut off the tops.

But the best method is found to be that of digging up the roots with double-pronged strongly-made iron forks, the blades being about 14 inches in length, and each fork, with shaft and handle complete, weighing about 8 lbs.

The plan of ploughing is liable to bring too much of the subsoil to the surface, and costs quite as much, if not more, than digging.

The advantage which is looked for in ploughing, is to ensure getting the roots up from a greater depth than can be done by digging, as a great number break off about 8 or 9 inches long, unless a boy is employed to assist the diggers, and is very careful to pull the top at the precise time that the man presses the root upward with his fork.

When dug, the tops should be neatly cut off, and the roots conveyed to the washing-house to be cleaned. Sometimes they are earthed in pits, but, generally speaking, they are taken to the washing-house immediately after being dug up.

In the former case, on the Continent, the roots, with the leaves cut off, are thrown, in heaps of from four to six feet in length, width, and height, on the surface of the ground; some straw and then some earth are put around. But generally the growers deliver the roots to the manufacturers from the latter end of August to November, by whom they are immediately dried.

The root is from 2 to 4 inches thick, 3 to 7 inches long, and occasionally, in a good soil, 3 lbs. in weight. In Brunswick they obtain from 4 to 6 tons of root per Brunswick acre.

The weight of the crop depends entirely upon the richness or poverty of the soil, the tillage and manure it has received, and other circumstances. The fault in England is the striving to grow as heavy a crop as possible, to the very great detriment of the quality of the root for powder.

In Brunswick the price of the root in the original state varies from 20s. to 40s. per ton, according as the crops have been good or bad, and an acre will realise from 5l. to 7l. The cost for cultivation is from 3l. 15s. to 4l. 10s.; 1½ to 2 tons is about an average crop.

Mr. William Strickney, who has grown and prepared chicory for the manufacturer to a very great extent, on a large farm near Hull, estimates the expense of the cultivation of chicory there at 4l. 5s. 6d. per acre, and if we add to this 2l. 10s. for rent, manure, &c., it gives 6l. 15s. 6d. The produce on suitable land he states to be from 8 to 12 tons per acre, and it requires 4 tons of green root to make 1 ton of dried. In the dried state the root is worth from 12l. to 24l. per ton. Take 10 tons per acre, at 2l. 10s. per ton, and this would leave a profit per acre of 18l. 4s. 6d.

Another competent agricultural authority states that the price of 2¼ tons of dry root for the acre, at 12l. per ton, would be 27l.; deducting 7l. for rent, labour, and other expenses, this would leave a profit of 20l. per acre.

The roots are cut into small pieces of about half-inch or three-quarter inch lengths by a turnip-cutter, or by hand, the object being to have the pieces of as uniform a size as possible. The slices are then dried in a kiln: this process wasting the chicory from 75 to 80 per cent. It is then marketable, and is usually sold to the drysalters and grocers, who roast and grind it as they do coffee. In the ground state it may be kept for years, but it soon cakes. The roasted root is emptied into iron vessels, and, after cooling, is crushed in vertical stone mills, or between iron cylinders.

The dried roots cut are roasted in this country like coffee. The loss during roasting is from 25 to 30 per cent. The roasters generally introduce into the roasting machine about 2 lbs. of lard for every cwt. of chicory. Some say this is to give the chicory a better face, others state that it renders the powder less hygrometric. Inferior kinds of chicory are alleged to be coloured with Venetian red.

Chicory is occasionally adulterated with roasted pulse (called Hambro’ powder), damaged corn, and coffee husks (“coffee flights,” as they are technically termed). We have also heard of parsnips having been roasted, ground, and mixed with chicory. Dr. Hassall gives a long list of other substances which have been found as adulterants of coffee.

Treacle is sometimes introduced into fictitious chicory, to give the caramel or saccharine odour possessed by real chicory.

Dr. Hassall says the roasted chicory root yields from 45 to 65 per cent. of soluble extractive. Its solution in water is acid, and it does not possess the peculiar bitter taste of the raw root; but the taste of the liquid is more like that of burnt sugar. The copper test shows the presence of from 10 to 13 per cent. of sugar.