HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOS SI P. 



147 



Coles, in his "Adam in Edeu ; or, Paradise of 

 Plants," a, curious old work published in 1657, saysj 

 concerning leeks : — "The gentlemen in Wales have 

 them in great regard both for their feeding and to 

 wear in their hats on St, David's day." 



Worledge, writing in 1068, gives a good idea of 

 the love of the Welsh for these kinds of odoriferous 

 vegetables. "1 have seen," says he, "the greater 

 part of a garden there stored with leeks, and part of 

 the remainder with onions and garlic." 



The origin of the Leek as an emblem of Wales, 

 and being worn on St. David's day, has given rise 

 to much controversy at various periods. A writer in 

 the Goitleman^s Magazine for Eebruary, 1735, states 

 that on the 1st March, 610, the Welsh, under the 

 command of King Cadwallo, gained a great victory 

 over the Saxons, and had at the same time put leeks 

 in their hats to distinguish themselves, fighting near 

 a field which was replenished with this vegetable, 

 which has ever since been esteemed as a badge of 

 honour among them, 



Townsend gives the same account in his " Manual 

 of Dates," but places the event a hundred years 

 earlier. Shakespeare alludes to the custom of 

 wearing the Leek by the Welsh in the fourth act of 

 his " Henry V," A contributor to a periodical work 

 (the Gazette of Fashion, 1832) thinks it more pro- 

 bable that leeks were a Druidic symbol employed 

 in honour of the British Ceudven or Ceres. In 

 which hypothesis he thinks there is nothing 

 strained or far-fetched, presuming that the Druids 

 were a branch of the Phoeuician priesthood. Both 

 were addicted to oak-worship, and during the 

 funeral rites of Adonis at Bjblos, leeks and onions 

 were exhibited in " pots with other vegetables," 

 and called the gardens of that deity. In Egypt 

 leeks and onions were also deposited in the sacred 

 chests of the mysteries both of Isis and Ceres. 

 This vegetable is represented among the Egyptian 

 hieroglyphics ; sometimes a leek is on the head of 

 Osiris, and at other times grasped in an extended 

 hand. 



Porrus, a leek, is derived by Bryant from the 

 Egyptian god Pi-orus, who is the same as the Baal 

 Peor of the Phceuicians, and the Bel or Bellinis of 

 the Druids, Theis gives another derivation to the 

 word, and says it is from pari, to eat, in Celtic ; 

 whence comes our word porridge, in which leeks 

 formerly constituted an ingredient. 



It is stated in Hooker and Arnott's "British 

 Flora," seventh edition, that A. Porriim, the garden 

 leek, is nowhere found truly wild, Bentham says, 

 in his Handbook, it is believed to be a cultivated 

 variety of A. Ampeloprasuin, which is found in two 

 or three spots in Western England, but supposed 

 to have been introduced, or the remains of anciient 

 cultivation. Most of the Onion tribe have sul- 

 phur in their composition, as well as free phosphoric 

 acid. 



The bulb of the Onion is in reality not a root any 

 more than the Potato, but an underground bud, 

 containing all the parts hereafter to be developed. 

 The Potato is an underground stem, or rhizome, 

 covered with buds or eyes, from which new plants 

 are produced. I will now conclude my paper on 

 these odoriferous and pungent vegetables with some 

 lines from a Harl. MS. in the British Museum, 

 written no doubt by a Welsluiian : — 



" I like the leek above all herbs and flowers, 

 When first we wore the same the field was ours. 

 The leek is white and green, whereby is meant 

 That Britons are both stout and eminent. 

 Next to the lion and the unicorn, 

 The leek 'a the fairest emblem that is worn." 



Hampden G. Glasspoole. 



ON APHIDES, 



IT is difiicult for the rose-cultivator to look with 

 any degree of interest at the swarm of green 

 plant-lice which sometimes infest his choicest spe- 

 cimens, or for the farmer to contemplate placidly 

 the black pests which are destroying his bean crop ; 

 but the life-history of these creatures is so curious, 

 and so replete with interest, that the mere natu- 

 ralist may be excused if he sees in them something 

 to admire. I have no doubt more than one species 

 of aphis is more than sufiiciently well known in 

 appearance to all my readers, but I doubt if we 

 have all taken our revenge so fully as we might 

 have done, by making them reveal the secrets of 

 their wonderful economy to us in return for the 

 damage they have done to our floral pets. 



The Aphis, or plant-louse, belongs to the order 

 Homoptera, and the genus is a very large one, 

 numbering, I believe, some three hundred and 

 twenty species, almost every one of which requires 

 its own peculiar plant to supply it with nourish- 

 ment. The species with which we are most familiar 

 are those found in the rose, beau, hop, and fruit- 

 trees. The damage done by the hop-flj^, as it is 

 called, is sometimes very great, affecting the duty 

 to the extent of many thousands of pounds. Other 

 species cover the stems of 'plants, or infest the 

 under surface of the leaves, causing them to form 

 hollow cavities of a red colour, in which they find 

 a perfect shelter. Their mode of feeding is to 

 draw up the sap through the rostrum, and thus, by 

 diminishing the vigour of the plant, they produce 

 deformity and injury to the fruit or flowers. It is 

 said that they do not attack plants in perfect 

 health, and this I believe to be the case generally, 

 but whether it always holds good I cannot say ; 

 certain it is that any circumstance (drought, easterly 

 winds, &c.) which checks the vigour of the plant 

 is favourable to the attacks of the aphis. I have 

 also noticed that an improvement in the health of 

 the plant is attended by a corresponding decrease 



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