ONION. 27 



East, Esq. having sent the seeds from Jamai- 

 ca to England in the year 1787. It is not a 

 native of the West Indies, but was brought 

 from Africa to Jamaica*, and is the same de- 

 scribed by Pliny -f, which, he says, grows 

 larger than the other garlic, and is so much 

 commended in Africa, that it is held the prin- 

 cipal dish of which a husbandman in that 

 country can eat : he adds, that being 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 planted in level 

 ground, but on little hillocks like mole-hills, 

 and that as soon as they shewed their leaves, 

 the mould was taken away from them, for 

 the oftener they were laid bare, the larger 

 the heads would grow. 



If garlic be boiled, and given to chickens 

 with their food, it will generally prevent that 

 pest of the feathered tribe, the pip. 



SHALOT, or ESHALOT.— ASCALONIUM. 



This relative of the onion was formerly 

 called, and more properly named, Scalion, 

 from Ascalon, a town in Syria, near the Medi- 



* Lunan. t Book xix. chap. 6. 



