ISO LEEKS. 



happens to be present shows that both are esteemed 

 good things, and that the leek makes one of the best 



O O ' 



soups. The Scotch leek, as it endures the hardest 

 winter, and is the better for all the frost it gets, is 

 undoubtedly the best variety for this country. No- 

 thing can be worse than a small, hard, ill thriven 

 leek, and few things are better than one that is fully 

 grown to the thickness of a cane, blanched to the 

 whiteness of snow, and which falls in the boiling 

 like stewed apples. The first thing is to have seed- 

 ling plants in due season. In high situations where 

 they do not spring early, it is better to procure 

 plants from a warmer climate, and which is the 

 more convenient as they do not readily suffer by 

 carriage. There is no advantage in very early sow- 

 ing, as the seed waits for heat. The first of April 

 is soon enough; and it is a good rule to sow pretty 

 thick for shelter, and at more breadth than is neces- 

 sary for a supply of plants; for it so happens, that 

 out of the greater multidude of chances, plants of a 

 good size are more early procured. This principle 

 ought to be noticed in garden competitions as a 

 larger field, without better cultivation, has for an 

 extraordinary production, the advantage over one 

 that is smaller. In the beginning of July, on the 

 removal of some early crop, dig plentifully into the 

 ground old black well decayed manure, and in soft 

 weather take up the seedling leeks, select the larg- 

 est, crop them at both ends, and throw aside all that 

 have suckers; make deep holes with the dibble, in 

 rows one foot by six inches, and let the plants drop 



