190 



LEEK. 



The heat of oak leaves is constant ; whereas tanners' bark 

 generally turns cold in a very short time, after its furious heat 

 is gone off." " There is a saving in point of expense ; 

 and decayed leaves make good manure ; whereas, rotten 

 tan is experimentally found to be of no value." 



" Leaves mixed with dung," says Loudon, " make excel- 

 lent hot-beds ; and beds compounded in this manner pre- 

 serve their heat much longer than when made entirely with 

 dung. In both cases, the application of leaves will be a 

 considerable saving of dung," &c. 



LEEK. — Allium porrum. — The leek is a hardy biennial, 

 a native of Switzerland. The stem rises three feet, and is 

 leafy at bottom ; the leaves an inch wide. 



The varieties are, 



The narrow-leaved/ or Flanders burgh leek; 



leek; The broad-leaved; or laJl; London 



Tlie Scotch; or flag, or Mussel- leek. 



Propagation, — " From seed ; and, for a bed four feet wide 

 by eight in length, one ounce is requisite." 



Soil and site, — The soil should be light and rich, lying 

 on a dry sub-soil. A rank soil does not suit it, so that, 

 when manure is necessary, w^ell reduced dung, mixed with 

 road drift, is better than dung alone. The situation should 

 be open. Let the ground be dug in the previous autumn, 

 ready for sowing in the spring. For the principal crop 

 allot beds four or five feet wide, and sow in drills, about six- 

 teen inches apart. . A small crop may be sown thinly with 

 a main crop of onions, and when the latter are drawn off, 

 the leeks will have room for full growth." 



Times of sowing. — " A small first crop may be sown as 

 soon as the ground is dry enough, and the weather suffi- 

 ciently mild in the spring. The principal crop should be 

 sown the last of April or the beginning of May." 



Course of culture. — " When the plants are three or four 

 inches high, weed them clean, and thin them where too 

 much crowded. Water well in dry, hot weather. The 

 leek is much improved in size by transplanting ; and those 

 designed for that purpose will be fit to remove when from 

 six to ten inches high. For this purpose, take out a quan- 

 tity, regularly, from the seed-bed, either in showery 

 weather, or after watering the ground. Trim the long, 

 weak tops of the leaves, and the roots and fibres, and plant 

 them by dibble, in rows, from nine to twelve inches asunder, 

 by six or eight inches in the row, inserting them nearly down 

 to the leaves, or with the neck part mostly into the ground, 



