are propagated by slips, or by dividing the roots in the spring or autumn.

When the leaves are gathered for use, if they are cut close, others will shoot up in succession, and in this manner a bed lasts three or four years; after which period it must be renewed. When fresh cut, these leaves are by some persons considered as an improvement to salads and seasonings. Their flavour suffers greatly if they be kept after gathering even for a very short time, and their produce is but small in proportion to the labour of gathering. On these accounts they are not much cultivated in places where vegetables are supplied in the markets; and they seldom find a place in the garden of the English peasant, who, partly from ignorance, and partly from prejudice, does not live much upon those soups and savoury dishes which, while they are more wholesome and nourishing than the food which he consumes, are also considerably cheaper.

The LEEK-Allium porrum-is said to be indigenous to Switzerland, whence it was introduced into this country; but it has been for so many ages under cultivation, that its native place cannot, perhaps, be very accurately traced. According to translators and commentators, this, as well as the onion and garlic, was included among the Egyptian luxuries after which the Israelites pined. It still makes its constant appearance at the tables of the Egyptians, who eat it chopped small as a savoury accompaniment to meat.

The exact period when the leek was first brought into this country is not known, but it is mentioned by Tusser, in his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,' as early as 1562. There is, however, every reason for believing that it was introduced prior to that time, and had long been the favourite badge of the Welsh principality. Shakspeare makes this to have

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arisen at the time of the battle of Cressy. In the play of Henry V., Fluellin, addressing the King, observes, "Your grandfather of famous memory, an't please your Majesty, and your great uncle Edward the Plack Prince of Wales, as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave pattle here in France.

"King Henry. They did, Fluellin.

"Fluellin. Your Majesty says very true: if your Majesties is remembered of it, the Welchmen did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps, which your Majesty knows to this hour is an honourable badge of the service; and I do believe your Majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day."-Act 4, Scene 7.

Worlidge gives a good idea of the love of the Welsh for these kinds of odoriferous vegetables. He says, “I have seen the greater part of a garden there stored with leeks, and part of the remainder with onions and garlic."

The hardiness and pungency of the leek both tend to recommend it in those countries where few potherbs are grown, and it seems to have great facility in adapting itself to climate. The leek which is cultivated in the colder parts of Scotland, and thence is called the Scotch leek, is more hardy and also more pungent than the broad-leaved variety, chiefly cultivated in England. It was formerly a very favourite ingredient in the "cock-a-leekie" of the Scotch, which is so graphically described in The Fortunes of Nigel;' and of which James the First is reported to have been so fond that he retained his preference for it notwithstanding all the dainties of London cookery.

This species requires more boiling than others of the same genus, and, unless it be reduced nearly to a pulp, it taints the breath in a very offensive manner. The offensive odour of a vegetable is, however, no evidence of unwholesomeness, provided the odour is natural to it, and not the result of putrefaction*.

* See the account of the Durion; Library of Entertaining Knowledge, volume on Timber Trees and Fruits, p. 404,

The bulb of the leek consists of the bottoms of the leaves, which do not form in bulbules or cloves like those of the garlic, neither are they so entire as the tunics of the onion; the stem runs to the height of about three feet; the flowers, which are bell-shaped, appear in May, in large close balls, followed by capsules containing seeds. As the root of the leek is rather the blanched end of the leaves than a bulb, properly so called, the plant is to be considered chiefly as a potherb; though in some places both the root and the greater part of the leaves are eaten by the peasantry as an accompaniment to their bread. chief value, however, is as a potherb, which stands the winter well, and is in a forward and succulent state at that part of the season when fresh vegetables are the least abundant. The culture of the leek is similar to that of the onion.

Its

GARLIC Allium sativum-is the species from which the genus takes its name. It is very extensively used in most of the continental states. This plant was first cultivated in England in 1548, and was held in greater repute by our ancestors than is in accordance with modern English taste. It is a native of the countries on the shores of the Mediterranean, and is still to be found growing wild in the island of Sicily, and in the south of France. Though thriving best on a naturally rich and dry soil, garlic is a very hardy plant, and not very particular as to climate. Its leaves are linear, long, and narrow; the root is perennial, composed of twelve or fifteen lesser bulbs, enclosed in one common membranous tunic, and easily separable from one another; these are called cloves of garlic, and are the only parts used. The whole plant, and especially the cloves, has a most acrimonious taste, and offensive smell; and even in those countries where it is most in favour it is seldom eaten in substance, or even mixed in sub

stance in those culinary preparations which it is intended to flavour. The garlic is generally only introduced during the cooking, for a time longer or shorter according to the intenseness of the flavour required, and is then withdrawn. This plant is readily propagated by the cloves or subdivisions of the bulbs which, if put into the ground in March, produce a crop in July or August.

Garlic-Allium sativum.

Several species of garlic are found growing natu rally in various countries. The wild garlic of Kamchatka (allium ursinum) is much prized by the inhabitants, both as a medicine and as an auxiliary article of food. The Russians, as well as the natives, gather it in large quantities for winter use. After being steeped in water, it is mixed with cabbage, onions,

and other ingredients, the whole forming a ragout, which is eaten cold. This plant is there considered as almost a specific against the scurvy, no sooner lifting its head above the snow than the dreadful disease loses all its horrors; as even in its worst stages a cure is produced by the plentiful use of the wild garlic.

Three species, the sand garlic, the crow garlic, and the leek garlic, are found native in some parts of Britain; but they are of little or no value, and have never been introduced into culture.

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The SHALLOT-Allium ascalonium-is a native of warmer climates than that of England; it is found growing wild in many parts of Syria, especially near Ascalon, whence it derives its name. The time of its introduction into this country is not known; some writers assume that it was brought home by the Crusaders. It is mentioned as a well-known plant by Turner, in his Signes of Herbes,' published in 1548. This plant resembles the true garlic in having its roots divided into cloves or smaller roots, and enclosed in a thin membrane. Each of these small roots sends forth two or three fistular awl-shaped leaves, issuing from a sheath; they are nearly similar, but not so large, as those of the onion. The shallot does not in all situations produce perfect seeds, or even flowers, and sometimes, indeed, does not send up any foot-stalk. The want of seed is, however, fully compensated by the multiplication of the roots. It is sufficiently hardy to bear uninjured the severest winters of England, but it is liable sometimes to be attacked by insects. This evil is found to be surely prevented when the bulbs are planted rather above the surface, instead of being buried in the earth; and this improved mode of culture has a farther advantage of bettering the quality and increasing the quantity of the crop obtained.

The flavour of the shallot is much more pungent