GARNER. 



GASES. 



It is generally propagated by the cloves ob- 

 tained by parting the root, but may be raised 

 from the bulbs produced on the stems. The 

 planting may be performed any time in Feb- 

 ruary, March, and early in April, but the mid- 

 dle of the second is the usual time of insertion. 

 A single clove to be placed in each one of 

 holes made 6 inches apart and 1$ deep, in 

 straight lines, 6 inches distant from each other, 

 care being taken to set the root end down- 

 wards; to do this with the greatest facility, it 

 is the best practice to thrust the finger and 

 thumb, holding a clove between them, to the 

 requisite depth, without any previous hole be- 

 ing made. 



The only cultivation required is to keep 

 them clean of weeds, and in June the leaves to 

 be tied in knots, to prevent their running to 

 seed, which would greatly diminish the size of 

 the bulbs. A few roots may be taken up as 

 required in June and July, but the whole must 

 not be lifted until the leaves wither, which oc- 

 curs at the close of July, or in the course of 

 August. It is usual to leave a part of the stalk 

 attached, by which they are tied into bun- 

 dles, being previously well dried by exposure 

 to the sun and air, for keeping during the 

 winter. 



Rochambole, or, as it is sometimes called 

 Spanish garlic (A. scorodoprasum),\ia.s its bulbs 

 or cloves growing in a cluster, forming a kind 

 of compound root. The stem bears many 

 bulbs at its summit, which, as well as those of 

 the root, are often preferred in cooking to gar- 

 lic, being of much milder flavour. It is best 

 propagated by the root bulbs; those of the 

 stem being slower in production. The plan- 

 tation may be made either in February, March, 

 or early part of April, as well as throughout 

 the autumn. They may be inserted either in 

 drills or by the dibble, in rows 6 inches apart 

 each way, and usually 2 inches within the 

 ground, though this, as well as the preceding 

 variety, would thrive better if grown on the 

 surface. A very small bed is sufficient for the 

 supply of the largest family. See SHALOT and 

 LEEK. 



Besides the above, there are large numbers 

 of different foreign species, most of which are 

 pretty : they increase abundantly from offsets. 

 The onion, leek, garlic, shalot, chives, &c., all 

 agree in their stimulant, diuretic, and expecto- 

 rant effects, differing in degree of activity. 

 See OMON. 



GARNER. A term used provincially to sig- 

 nify a granary, or repository for corn; also a 

 bin'n or a mill. See GRANARY. 



GAS, AMMONIACAL. See SALIKE SCB- 

 STVNCKS; their uses to vegetation. 



GASES, their uses to vegetation. It is not, I 

 think, necessary, in drawing the cultivator's 

 attention to the uses of that great portion of the 

 food of plants which they imbibe in the state 

 of gas, or of aqueous vapour, to enlarge upon 

 the importance of the question, since that is a 

 truth which, as illustrating the value of certain 

 modes of cultivation, I hope to render intelli- 

 gible in the following paper, as I examine in 

 succession the advantages of the gases and 

 vapour of the atmosphere, as well as those 

 emitted during putrefaction, to the commonly 

 520 



cultivated crops of the farmer. And even if 

 the accomplished farmer shall dissent from 

 some or all of my conclusions, he will yet 

 readily admit that all such observations, with 

 regard to the habits and food of plants, and 

 their ready absorption by the soil, cannot be 

 too generally understood and acted upon by 

 the cultivators of the soil. 



That the atmospheric air exerts an exte"n- 

 sive and very important influence upon vege- 

 tation, is a fact which has been well known 

 from the earliest days of agriculture. Too 

 many circumstances combine to render this 

 truth apparent to the very meanest cultivator 

 for it long to escape observation. The supe- 

 rior luxuriance of the borders of all growing 

 crops, from those of the field to the outer cir- 

 cle of timber in a wood, naturally pointed out 

 that something was gained by these, of which 

 the inner sheltered portions were partially de- 

 prived. And that this something was the air 

 of the atmosphere, appears to have been the 

 conclusion of the early Italian cultivators who, 

 on all occasions, were attentive to let their 

 crops enjoy as much of the breeze as possible ; 

 an object which they endeavoured to attain, not 

 only by an attentive consideration of the natu- 

 ral and acquired habits of the plants in trans- 

 planting them, but also by increasing the ac- 

 cess of air to their roots by deep and regular 

 periodical stirrings of the soil around them. 

 Thus Cato, the earliest of their agricultural 

 writers, whose works remain to us, when in- 

 structing the Roman farmers as to the best 

 mode of cultivating the vine and the olive, ad- 

 vised them, if they wished their vines and 

 olive-trees to grow luxuriantly, to stir the 

 trenches around them once a month, until they 

 were three years old ; and he adds, " bestow 

 the -same care upon other trees :" (lib. xliii.) 

 And Virgil, when commending the very doubt- 

 ful plan of paring and burning lands, alludes 

 to the same well-known advantage of a free 

 and copious supply of air to the roots of plants, 

 when he says, " the heat opens more ways and 

 hidden rents for the air, through which the 

 dews penetrate to the embryo plants." (Georg. 

 i. 90, 91.) They, in fact, considered, in com- 

 mon with the Greek philosophers, that air was 

 one of the four elements of which all sub- 

 stances were composed; but then, as in those 

 days, the air of the atmosphere was considered 

 to be a simple body, we need not search in the 

 works of the early agricultural writers for any 

 evidence of very definite ideas of the mode of 

 its action. That the air they breathed was 

 highly serviceable to plants of all kinds was 

 the extent of their information; they had no 

 knowledge of the existence of three distinct 

 gases in the atmosphere. That was a dis- 

 covery reserved for modern ages for the days 

 of Priestley, and the dawn of pneumatic chem- 

 istry in England. When, therefore, the early 

 cultivators made the observation, that the free 

 supply of air to the leaves and roots of plants 

 materially promoted their growth, they did 

 what too many modern agriculturists have 

 since done, merely noticed the effect, without 

 making any very accurate inquiries as to the 

 cause of the benefit; they were too often con- 

 tent, in fact, with merely substituting words as 



