538 
ON  GARLIC — (ALLIUM  SATIVUM.) 
The  foregoing  comparison  of  the  plants  yielding  the  two  kinds 
of  garlic,  shows  a  strict  accordance  between  them  on  most  botani- 
cal points.  It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  the  stem,  leaves, 
and  bulb  of  one  are  nearly  twice  as  large  as  the  corresponding 
parts  of  the  other.  Furthermore,  neither  of  the  four  large  plants 
presented  a  single  bulb  in  the  flowering  head,  while  every  one 
of  the  plants,  from  small  root-bulbs,  exhibited  many  of  them  in 
each  head. 
In  smell  and*  taste  they  also  differ,  the  large  variety  bearing 
more  resemblance  in  these  respects  to  the  leek,  than  to  the  true 
garlic. 
As  the  genus  Allium  includes  more  than  sixty  species,  botan- 
ists have  found  it  necessary  to  adopt  several  subdivisions  in  the 
grouping  of  the  species ;  and  one  ground  of  separation,  adopted 
in  Miller's  Gardener's  Dictionary,  is  founded  on  the  presence  or 
absence  of  bulbs  in  the  flowering  tops.  According  to  this  ar- 
rangement, there  would  be  perfect  propriety  in  considering  the 
two  plants  in  question  as  belonging  to  different  species.  But  a 
careful  examination  of  the  entire  plants  shows  that  such  a  classi- 
fication would  be  incorrect ;  for,  although  differing  in  one  im. 
portant  particular,  they  harmonize  exactly  in  many  others. 
All  of  the  aerial  portions  of  the  large  plant  exhibit  a  striking 
similarity  with  the  corresponding  parts  of  the  leek,  while  the 
underground  portions  bear  an  equally  close  resemblance  to  the 
true  garlic. 
Not  being  able  to  find  in  any  of  the  standard  works  on  botany 
the  propefr  authority  for  considering  the  two  plants  as  represen- 
tatives of  distinct  species,  and  being  satisfied  from  my  own  ob- 
servations that  they  are  not  the  same,  I  am  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  large  plant  may  be  justly  esteemed  as  a  hybrid,  parta- 
king of  the  nature  of  the  garlic  and  the  leek. 
Entertaining  this  view,  it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  opinions 
of  the  market-gardeners,  who  speak  of  them  as  being  identical. 
The  hybrid,  having  been  once  formed,  would  be  self-propagating 
from  its  cloves,  which  being  planted  indiscriminately  with  those 
of  the  true  garlic,  would  produce,  from  year  to  year,  a  mixed 
crop,  in  which  the  unsuspecting  eye  would  recognize  no  other 
difference  than  that  of  size  ;  the  cultivator  merely  supposing  that 
he  has  large  and  small  bulbs,  from  accidental  circumstances  of 
