HAIIDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



145 



THE HISTOEY OF OUE CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



No. III.— GARLIC {Alliim sativum). 



HE Garlic is a hardy, 

 perennial, bulbous- 

 rooted plant, grow- 

 ing: naturally in 

 Sicily and the 

 South of France. 

 It was well known 

 to the ancients, and 

 is mentioned in 

 connection with 

 onions and leeks in the Bible. 

 Ilomcr makes it part of the 

 entertainment which Nestor 

 served up to his guest 

 Machaon : — 



Honey new press'd, the sacred 



flour of wheat, 

 And wholesome garlic crown'd 



the savoury treat." 



Some authors state, however, 

 that the Greeks held this root 

 in such abhorrence, that those 

 who partook of it were re- 

 garded as profane. 

 The Romans gave it to their 



soldiers, with au idea that it excited their courage ; 



and to their labourers to strengthen them. Virgil 



alludes 'to their restorative powers in one of his 



Eclogues : — 



" And for the mowers, faint with summer airs. 

 Wild thyrae and garlic, Thestyles prepares." 



Pliny writes, touching garlic, that it is sin- 

 gularly good and of great force for those that 

 change air, and come to strange waters. He states 

 it is a sovereign medicine for many maladies ; espe- 

 cially such as are incident to country peasants and 

 labourers. He recommends those who wish to 

 keep garlic and.onions from sprouting, to dip the 

 heads of them in warm salt-and-water. He describes 

 one variety, growing iu Africa, which, on being 

 No. 115. 



bruised in a mortar with oil and vinegar, it is won- 

 derful to see what a froth will arise, and to what a 

 height it will swell : he tells us that this kind of 

 garlic was never plauted on level ground, but on 

 little hillocks like molehills, and that as soon as 

 they showed their leaves, the mould was taken 

 away from them, for the oftener they were laid bare 

 the larger the heads would grow. 



This plant was first cultivated in England in 

 151S. Tusser alludes to it iu his twelfth verse for 

 the month of November, thus, " Set garlick and 

 beans at St. Edmund the king." It was held in 

 greater repute by our ancestors than is in accord- 

 ance with modern English tastes. The root of 

 this plant is composed of several lesser bulbs in- 

 closed in one common membranous tunic, and easily 

 separated from one another ; these are called cloves, 

 and are the only parts used, being generally intro- 

 duced only for a short period into the dish while 

 cooking, and withdrawn when a sufficient degree of 

 flavour has been communicated. The whole plant,- 

 especially the cloves, has a most acrimonious taste 

 and offensive odour, so powerful and penetrating,, 

 that if a piece of the plant is applied to the feet 

 its scent is soon discovered in the breath, and when 

 taken internally its smell is communicated through 

 the pores of the skin even to the fingers. It is said 

 that if a clove of garlic be kept in the mouth it 

 is an effectual preservative against infection ; and 

 a receipt printed in 1665, a drink of garlic and 

 warm milk, to be taken fasting, was recommended 

 as a cheap medicine to prevent the infection of the 

 plague. 



In Afghanistan the inhabitants rub their lips 

 and noses with garlic when they go out iu the 

 summer, and affirm that it secures them from the 

 evil effects of the hot winds. 



In some countries this plant has a superstitious 

 charm attached to it ; tbat of driving away evil 

 spirits, and the practice of sprinkling with garlic- 

 water those whom they wish to be preserved from 



H 



