144 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



picion as mummy -wheat, and, we doubt not, even philoso- 

 phers have been imposed upon. The Onion now forms an 

 important article of commerce; about 700 or 800 tons 

 are annually imported in chests and boxes from Spain 

 and Portugal. 



Garlic. Allium sativum. (Nat. Ord. Liliacete.) 

 Though much less used than the last, the Garlic is as 

 ancient a vegetable as the onion. A few hundredweights 

 are brought by the Spaniards, by whom this root is more 

 used than by any modern nation. 



The Hop. Humulus Lupulus. (Nat. Ord. Cannabinacece.) 

 This well-known vegetable product, with two or three 

 others, we have been compelled to place at the end of this 

 chapter, as they will not come under any of the other divi- 

 sions of our subject. It is indigenous both to this country 

 and many other parts of Europe, and there are perhaps 

 few plants in our hedge-rows more worthy of admiration ; 

 its very handsome foliage, resembling that of the vine, and 

 its rapid growth and twining habit, spreading over the 

 bushes and ornamenting them with its fine leaves and sin- 

 gular clusters of flowers, make it one of our most beautiful 

 native plants. But, handsome as the hop-plant is in a 

 state of nature, it is far more beautiful when cultivated ; 



