30 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



in 1562. The able compiler of that excel- 

 lent work has been wrongly informed in this 

 instance ; as we learn from Tusser, that it was 

 in common use in farm-houses at an earlier 

 period. His verse for the month of March 

 says, 



" Now leckes are in season, for pottage ful good, 



and spareth the milck cow, and purgeth the blood : 

 These hauing with peason, for pottage in Lent, 

 thou spareth both otemel and bread to be spent." 



Gerard, who wrote soon after this time, 

 mentions leeks in such a manner as to induce 

 us to think them indigenous to our soil ; he 

 says " leckes are very common euery where 

 in other countries, as well as in England." 

 And they appear to have been used by the 

 Welsh, as far back as we can trace their his- 

 tory. 



" March, various, fierce, and wild, with wind-crack'd 

 cheeks, 

 By wilder Welshmen led, and crown'd with leeks." 



Churchill. 



The Welshmen still continue to wear leeks 

 on St. David's day in commemoration of a 

 victory which they obtained over the Saxons 

 in the sixth century, and which they attri- 



