Chap. 33.] THE LEEK. 1/3 



seed in the ensuing summer, but a bulb only, which dries and 

 keeps ; but in the summer after, the contrary is the case, for 

 seed is produced, while the bulb very quickly spoils. Hence 

 it is that every year there are two separate sowings, one of 

 seed for the reproduction of bulbs, and one of bulbs for the 

 growth of seed ; these onions keep best in chaff. The scallion 

 has hardly any bulb at all, but a long neck only hence it is 

 nothing but leaf, and is often cut down, like the leek ; for this 

 reason, too, like the leek, it is grown from seed, and not from 

 plants. 



In addition to these particulars, it is recommended that the 

 ground intended for sowing onions should be turned up three 

 times, care being taken to remove all roots and weeds ; ten 

 pounds of seed is the proper proportion for a jugerum. Savory 

 too, they say, should be mixed with them, the onions being all 

 the finer for it ; the ground, too, should be stubbed and hoed 

 four times at least, if not oftener. In Italy, the Ascalonian 

 onion is sown in the month of February. The seed of the 

 onion is gathered when it begins to turn black, and before it 

 becomes dry and shrivelled. 



CHAP. 33. THE LEEK. 



"While upon this subject, it will be as well, too, to speak of 

 the leek, 61 on account of the affinity which it bears to the plants 

 just mentioned, and more particularly because cut-leek has 

 recently acquired considerable celebrity from the use made of 

 it by the Emperor Nero. That prince, to improve his voice, 62 

 used to eat leeks and oil every month, upon stated days, ab- 

 staining from every other kind of food, and not touching so 

 much as a morsel of bread even. Leeks are reproduced from 

 seed, sown just after the autumnal equinox ; if they are in- 

 tended for cutting, 63 the seed is sown thicker than otherwise. 

 The leeks in the same bed are cut repeatedly, till it is quite ex- 

 hausted, and they are always kept well manured. If they are 



61 The Allium porrum of Linnaeus. 



62 This prejudice in favour of the leek, as Fee remarks, still exists. It 

 is doubtful, however, whether its mucilage has any beneficial effect upon 

 the voice. See B. xx. c. 21. 



63 Fee says, that it is a practice with many gardeners, more harmful 

 than beneficial, to cut the leaves of the leek as it grows, their object being 

 to increase the size of the stalk. 



