158 GARDENING FOE PROFIT. 



LEEK. (Allium Porrum.) 



The Leek is another vegetable that is exclusively grown 

 as a second crop. The seed is sown in April in rows 1 

 foot apart, in ground well prepared as recommended for 

 the Celery seed bed ; and like all seed beds, it is kept 

 scrupulously clear of weeds. The best time of planting 

 is the same as that for all our second crops ; during July, 

 or as soon as the first or spring crop can be cleared off. 

 The ground can hardly be too rich for Leeks, and when 

 time will allow, we always contrive to get in a slight ad- 

 ditional coat of manure for this crop ; the spring dressing, 

 large as it always is, hardly being sufficient. The ground 

 being well prepared by plowing and harrowing, lines are 

 marked out by the marker at 1 foot apart, and the Leeks 

 planted on each line at 5 or 6 inches apart ; we do not 

 earth up, but instead plant rather deeply. As it is a plant 

 the foliage of which is but little spreading, great care 

 must be taken that weeds are never allowed to get ahead, 

 for if they do, they may soon entirely envelope the crop 

 to its total destruction. 



It is a vegetable -used mostly in winter and spring, and 

 requires to be dug up, in this vicinity, in November, as 

 otherwise it would be injured by our severe winters, but 

 in milder sections it is better left standing where it grew ; 

 it is quite a hardy vegetable, so that 20 or 25 degrees be 

 low freezing will not injure it. It is preserved, by the 

 market gardeners here, in trenches, exactly as Celery it 

 preserved; see chapter on Celery. Large quantities are 

 sold in our^northern markets, at fairly remunerative rates, 

 although from the nature of the plant, it requires perhaps 



