THE LEEK. 



663 



that begin to decay picked out. Thus treated, onions will keep sound and 

 good, all winter and spring, till May following, except the potato-onion, 

 which with difficulty keeps beyond February. Onions are not injured by 

 frost, unless they are moved when frozen, which, by bruising them, ruptures 

 the tissue, and when a thaw takes place, the bruised part becomes a wound, 

 and the bulbs begin to decay. Onions intended for market are tied by the 

 neck round sticks, by strands of matting, or plaited into straw, and thus form 

 what are called ropes of onions. Hanging up these ropes in an open airy 

 shed is the best way of keeping them ; but if they are spread out, or hung 

 up in a close cellar, room, or loft, somewhat above 40° they will grow. 



1472. To save seed, select some of the finest specimens and plant them in 

 rich soil early in spring. The seed will ripen in August, when the heads 

 should be cut off and laid in cloths exposed to the sun till they are perfectly 

 dry, when the seed may be thrashed out, and again exposed to the sun for 

 a few hours, previously to being put up in bags. It will keep two years, 

 and sometimes three. It varies considerably in price, according to the crop 

 in this country, and also in Holland, whence much onion seed is imported. 



SuBSECT. II. — The Leek. 

 1478. The Leek, Allium Porrum L. (Poireau, Fr.), is a perennial, a 

 native of Switzerland, in cultivation in British gardens, from an unknown 

 period. Its blanched stem is used in soups and stews, and in a dish by itself, 

 served up on toasted bread with white sauce. The best variety is the broad- 

 leaved or London leek, which is always raised from seed, though suckers may 

 be obtained from old plants. For a seed -bed four feet wide by eight feet in 

 length, one ounce of seed is sufficient, which may be sown about the middle 

 of March, and will come up in a fortnight. The plants should be trans- 

 planted when three or four inches high, in May or June, if possible in 

 showery weather ; previously shortening a little the roots, and taking off 

 the tips of the leaves. They require a very rich soil, and may either be 

 planted along the bottom of drills, or on the surface in rows, ten or twelve 

 inches apart, by six or eight inches in the row ; inserting the sheathed stems 

 nearly up to the leaves, or, in default of this mode of planting, earthing them 

 up as the}^ grow, in order that a greater portion of the plant may be blanched. 

 In planting, press the soil to the fibres with the dibber, but leave the stem 

 quite loose and free, and as it were standing in the centre of a hollow cylinder, 

 two inches in diameter, and at least six inches deep. This cylinder will 

 afterwards be filled up by the swelling of the stem, and as the leaves are so 

 close together, it is a much better mode than attempting to earth the plants up. 

 Some plant in hollow drills, and earth up as in celery culture, which pro- 

 duces very large stems. Some form holes with a large dibble, drop the 

 plant in, followed by as much loose earth as will just cover its fibrous roots, 

 and afterwards water once a day, till it has taken sufficient hold of the 

 soil. If the soil is very rich to a considerable depth, and on a dry bottom, 

 the size of the stem, by this mode of culture, becomes enormous. The 

 leeks will be fit for use in September, and will continue in perfection 

 till the following April or May, when they may be taken up and placed in a 

 cool cellar to retard vegetation, which will admit of their being used till the 

 middle or end of May ; or much later, if growth is prevented by cutting off 

 the plate from which the roots proceed. When severe frost is anticipated, 

 a portion of the crop may be taken up in the beginning of winter, and 



