GARGET. 



GARLIC. 



house ; and there are few among them so 

 senseless as not readily to engage in its culti- 

 vation when convinced of the comforts and 

 gain derivable from it. Gardening is a pursuit 

 adapted alike to the gay and the recluse, the 

 man of pleasure and the lover of science. To 

 both it offers employment such as may suit 

 their taste ; all that can please by fragrance, 

 by flavour, or by beauty ; all that science may 

 illustrate; employment for the chemist, the 

 botanist, the physiologist, and the meteorolo- 

 gist. There is no taste so perverse as that 

 from it the garden can win no attention, or to 

 which it can afford no pleasure. He who 

 greatly benefited or promoted the happiness of 

 mankind in the days of paganism was invoked 

 after death and worshipped as a deity: in these 

 days we should be as grateful as they were 

 without being as extravagant in its demonstra- 

 tion ; and if so, we should indeed highly esti- 

 mate those who have been the improvers of 

 our horticulture; for, as Socrates says, "it is 

 the source of health, strength, plenty, riches, 

 and honest pleasures." "It is the purest of 

 human pleasures," says Lord Verulam. It is 

 amid its scenes and pursuits that "life flows 

 pure, the heart more calmly beats." (G. W. 

 Johnson's History of Gardening.) 



GARGET. In farriery, a disease in the ud- 

 ders of cows, arising from inflammation of the 

 lymphatic glands. It is also a distemper inci- 

 dent to ho-^s ; and which is known by their 

 hani'iii'4 down their heads, and carrying them 

 on one side, moist eyes, staggering, and loss of 

 appetite. 



In order to remove the disease in cows, 

 where the inflammation is great, the cow 

 should be bled, a dose of physic administered, 

 the udder well fomented, and the milk drawn 

 gently but completely off, at least twice a day. 

 ' 'utili: p. 553.) When the disease 

 happens to hogs, they may also he bled, and 

 should have warm, stimulating cordial drinks. 



GARLIC (Allinnt, from the Celt.; all, hot or 

 burning). Under this name Sir J. Smith, 

 /'for. vol. ii. p. 133) enumerates seven 

 native species; viz.: 



1. The great rounded-headed garlic, (A. am- 

 pdoprasurn). A rare plant, found occasionally 

 in open hilly places. The stem is two or three 

 feet high, and the herbage somewhat similar 

 to that of the leek; the white globose bulbs or 

 cloves increase rapidly in a garden, by lateral 

 offsets, till they compose a mass as big as a 

 man's head, resembling a bunch of grapes. 

 The scent of the whole plant is strong, and of 

 the most disagreeable kind. 



2. The sand garlic (A. arenarium), found in 

 mountainous woods and fields in the north, on 

 a sandy soil; stem two or three feet high, 

 bulbs small, ovate, with many purplish off- 

 sets. 



3. The mountain garlic (A. carinatum) 

 which is nearly related to the next following 

 species, though differing in the flatter form of 

 its leaves. 



4. The streaked field or wild garlic (A. olera- 

 rn<m) found in pastures, meadows, corn fields, 

 and their borders producing whitish green 

 blossoms in July. The whole plant has an 

 unpleasant seen* rf garlic, and is a very 



troublesome ween, difficult of extirpation, 

 though not of common occurrence. It is eaten 

 by cattle, sheep, and hogs, and the tender 

 leaves, boiled in soups, or fried with other 

 herbs, form a wholesome article of food. 



5. The crow garlic {A. vineale) which grows 

 in dry pastures, corn fields, and waste ground 

 among ruins, especially on a chalky or gravelly 

 soil. The stem is slender, about two feet high, 

 bulb small, ovate, white, flowers small, pale 

 rose-coloured. 



This species of garlic has generally been 

 considered perennial, but Dr. Darlington re- 

 gards the common garlic of our American 

 fields as biennial, propagated every year by 

 new lateral bulbs, the old cuies, after once 

 sending up a stem and flowering, dying away. 

 This species is a foreigner which has been 

 extensively naturalized in the United States, 

 constituting in many places a great nuisance, 

 not only by imparting a disgusting flavour to 

 milk, butter, cheese, &c., but seriously injuring 

 flour, and rendering its manufacture difficult. 

 Farmers are however able to subdue it by a 

 judicious rotation of crops. The oat and other 

 spring crops, are highly instrumental in the 

 destruction of garlic. 



The species called meadow garlic (Allium 

 Canademe), is found in the Middle States, being 

 frequent on the banks of the Brandywine, in 

 which last mentioned locality the three-berried 

 or three-seeded gnrlic t is also met with. The 

 bulbs of this last are of an oblong oval shape, 

 pointed, and rather large. The leaves are 5 to 

 8 inches long, and 1$ to 3 inches wide, taper- 

 ing to the base. This species, says Dr. 

 Darlington, differs remarkably from all other 

 alliums found in the United States, and has 

 much resemblance to the A. ursimtm, of Eu- 

 rope. The large leaves die, arid disappear, 

 early in the season before the flowers are de- 

 veloped. The bulbs emit a fetid, disagreeable 

 odour, whilst drying. Three or four additional 

 species of garlic are found in the United States, 

 (f for. Cettrica.) 



6. The broad-leaved garlic or ramsons (A 

 rsirtw), which grows in moist woods, hedges, 

 and meadows, and produces large white 

 flowers, that blow in the month of May and 

 June. Every part of the plant, when trodden 

 upon, or otherwise bruised, exhales the strong 

 odour of its genus. This species is eaten by 

 cows ; but if they feed on it ever so sparingly, 

 it communicates its nauseous flavour to the 

 milk and butter to such a degree as to render 

 those articles offensive during the spring. It 

 should therefore be carefully eradicated as an 

 intolerable nuisance from all pastures. It af- 

 fords an excellent remedy for driving away 

 rats and moles, and it is said the plant will not 

 suffer any other vegetable to thrive near it. 



7. Chive garlic (A schcenopragum'), which is- 

 rare, but sometimes found in meadows and 

 pastures, and was formerly in great request as 

 an ingredient in salads, but has been Wterly 

 neglected. 



The cultivated varieties are Common gai 

 lie (A. sativum), which is a hardy plant, and 

 though generally known in the United States 

 by the name of English garlic, it is a native of 

 Sicily, capable of growing in almost any soil. 



