OCR Text |
Show Chicory Cultivation. Chicory, so extensively raised In France, is harvested either by hand or by plowing. As fast as the plants in one line are pulled the roots are gathered in heaps after the removal of the leaves and are roughly cleaned They are then transported to the factories, fac-tories, where they are mechanically washed in flowing water and dumped on a perforated conveyer that permits them to drain while traveling toward the root-cutters. The roots, when cut in small pieces, are conveyed to the malt kilns or special driers, where they remain thirty six hours or more, and after cooling are bagged. The chicory, having now become friable, passes Into a series of crushers; after each crushing the broker, material Is passed through sifters that divide it into four grades. From the crusher the chicory goes to the roasting retorts re-torts and then receives a final manipulation, manip-ulation, that of tinting, which consists In giving the grains a coating of im palatable chicory dust. The last operation oper-ation is that of packing the ol)i ?iv either by hand or bj' me.c'iiuo'y |