(from ἀλλιος, "to avoid or shun," because many shun the smell of it). GARLIC: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the hexandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking in the 9th order, Spathecaceae. The characters are: The calyx is a common spathe, roundish, withering, and multiflorous: The corolla consists of six oblong petals: The filaments have six subulate filaments, often the length of the corolla; the anthers are oblong and erect: The pistillum has a germen above, shorter, nearly three-cornered, with angles engraved with a line; the styli are simple, the figmata acute: The pericarpium is a very short, broad, three-lobed capsule, with three cells and three valves: The seeds are many and roundish. Of this genus no fewer than 40 different species are enumerated by Linnaeus, among which he includes the cepa and porrum, or onions and leeks.
1. The sativum, or garlic, has a bulbous root, of an irregularly roundish shape, with several fibres at the bottom; each root is composed of a number of lesser bulbs, called cloves of garlic, inclosed in one common membranous membranous coat, and easily separable from one another.
All the parts of this plant, but more especially the roots, have an acrimonious, and almost caustic taste, with a strong offensive smell, which last has induced those who preserved some of the species in gardens on account of their yellow flowers, to eradicate them.
This pungent root warms and stimulates the solids, and attenuates tenacious juices; for which it is well adapted, on account of its being very penetrating; inasmuch that, when applied to the feet, its scent is soon discovered in the breath; and, when taken internally, its smell is communicated to the urine, or the matter of an issue, and perfumes through the pores of the skin. Hence, in cold eucopephlegmatic habits, it proves a powerful expectorant, diuretic, and emmenagogue; and, if the patient is kept warm, sudorific.
It is also of great service in humoral asthmas and catarrhous disorders of the breast, and in other disorders proceeding from a laxity of the solids, and cold sluggish indispositions of the fluids. It is also frequently of service in the dropsy; in the beginning of which it is particularly recommended by Sydenham, as a warm strengthening medicine: we have even many examples where it acts so powerfully as a diuretic, as to carry off all the water of dropsies. It may be taken the length of a dram or two in substance for a dose.—We have a syrup and oxymel made with it, which may be employed for the same purposes as the garlic in substance; but they are mostly used in pulmonic disorders.
Externally applied, it inflames and ulcerates the skin, and is sometimes employed for this use in fistulas. It has also been recommended by Sydenham as a most powerful revolvent; for which purpose he was led to make use of it in the confluent small-pox. His method was to cut the root in pieces, and apply it, tied in a linen cloth, to the soles of the feet, about the eighth day of the disease, after the face began to swell; renewing it once a day till the danger was over.—When made into an unguent with oils, and applied externally, garlic is said to resolve and destroy cold tumours, and has been by some greatly celebrated in cutaneous disorders.
The acrimonious qualities of this root, however, render it manifestly improper on many occasions. Its liberal use is apt to occasion head-aches, flatulencies, thirst, febrile heats, inflammatory distempers, and sometimes discharges of blood from the hemorrhoidal vessels. In hot bilious constitutions, where there is already a degree of irritation, where the juices are too thin and acrimonious, or the viscera unfound, it never fails to aggravate the distemper.
In Kamtschatka, the allium ursinum, or wild garlic, is very common and useful in medicine as well as food. Both Russians and natives gather it in great quantities for winter service. They steep it in water, then mix it with cabbage, onions, and other ingredients, and form out of them a ragout which they eat cold. It is also the principal remedy for the scurvy. As soon as this plant appears above the snow, they seem to put this dreadful disorder at defiance, and find a cure almost in its worst stages.
Garlic is very hardy, and will thrive in almost any soil or situation. It is easily propagated either by the roots or seeds. If from the roots, they ought to be planted in autumn, that they may take good root in the ground before the spring, which is necessary to make them flower strong the following summer. If they are propagated by seeds, they may be sown on a border of common earth, either in autumn soon after the seeds are ripe, or in the spring following; and will require no farther care than to keep them clear from weeds. In the following autumn, they may be transplanted into the borders where they are to remain.
2. The acalonicum, or eschalot, was found wild in Palestine by Dr Hasselquist. The root is conglobate, consisting of many oblong roots bound together by thin membranes. Each of these small roots sends forth two or three filiform, long, awl-shaped leaves, issuing from a sheath, and are nearly like those of the common onion. The flower-stem shoots from a membranaceous sheath; is round, almost naked, and terminated by a globular umbel of flowers, which have erect, purplish, lance-shaped petals, of the length of the stamens.—The root of this species is very pungent, has a strong, but not unpleasant smell, and therefore is generally preferred to the onion for making high-flavoured soups and gravies. It is also put into pickles, and in the East Indies they use an abundance of it for this purpose.
3. The scorodonium, or rokambole, grows naturally in Denmark and Sweden. It hath a heart-shaped solid root, which stands sidewise of the stalk. The leaves are broad, and are a little crenated on their edges. The flowers are of a pale purple colour, and collected into a globular head. The roots are used for the same purpose as the former.
4. The schoenopraum, or cives, is an inhabitant of Siberia, and is a very small plant compared with the former, the leaves and stems seldom exceeding six inches in length, and the roots never producing any bulbs. The leaves are awl-shaped, hollow, and the stem naked. It was formerly in great request for mixing with salads in the spring, but has been little regarded lately. Its taste, smell, and virtues, are much the same as those of the common onion. It is propagated by parting the roots.
5. The cepa, or common onion, differs from the garlic only in the swelling pipe stalk, which is much larger in the middle than at either end.—From whence this was first brought into Europe is not known; but that it is not natural to Africa is beyond a doubt, it being evident that onions were eaten by the Egyptians above 2000 years before Christ; and they make a great part of their constant food to this day in Egypt. Dr Hasselquist says it is not to be wondered at that the Israelites should long for them after they had left this place; for whoever has tasted onions in Egypt must allow, that none can be had better in any part of the universe. Here, he observes, they are sweet, in other countries they are nauseous and strong. Here they are soft; whereas in the north and other parts they are hard, and their coats so compact that they are difficult to digest. They eat them roasted, cut into four pieces, with some bits of roasted meat, which the Turks call kebab; and with this dish they are so delighted, that they wish to enjoy it in paradise. They likewise make a soup of them in Egypt, which Hasselquist says is one of the best dishes he ever ate. The many ways of dressing onions in Britain are known to every family; but in regard to wholeomeness, there is certainly no method equal to boiling; as thus they are rendered mild, of easy digestion, and go off without leaving those heats in the stomach and bowels, which which they are apt to do any other way. Their nature is to attenuate thick, viscid juices; consequently a plentiful use of them in cold phlegmatic constitutions must prove beneficial. Many people shun them on account of the strong, disagreeable smell they communicate to the breath. This may be remedied by eating a few raw parsley leaves immediately after, which will effectually overcome the scent of the onions, and cause them to sit more easily on the stomach.
The varieties are, the Straburgh, the Spanish, and the Egyptian onion. They are propagated by seeds, which should be sown the latter end of February, or the beginning of March, on good, light, rich ground, well dug and levelled, and cleared from weeds. They should also be sown at a time when the surface of the ground is not moist; and where they are intended for a winter crop, they must not be sown too thick. The common allowance is six pounds of seed to an acre; though some allow more, in order to have a crop to draw out, which they call cullying. In about five weeks after, the onions will be up and forward enough to hoe; at which time the weeds should be lightly cut up with a small hoe about two inches and a half broad, as also the onions themselves where they grow too close in bunches, leaving them at this first time at least two or three inches apart. This, if properly performed, and in a dry season, will preserve the ground clear of weeds at least a month, when they must be hoed over again, leaving them at this time about four or five inches asunder. In five weeks after they must be hoed a third time. The weeds are now to be carefully cut up, and the onions singled out so as to leave them about six inches square; by which means they will grow much larger than if left too close. This, if well performed, in case the weather proves dry, will keep the onions till they are fit to pull; but if the weather should prove moist, and any of the weeds take root again, the weeds must be pulled out with the hand; for the onions having now begun to bulb, must not be disturbed with a hoe. Towards the middle of August the onions will have arrived at their full growth, which may be known by their blades falling to the ground and shrinking. At this time, therefore, before their necks or blades are withered off, they should be drawn out of the ground, the extreme part of the blade cut off, and the onions laid upon a dry spot of ground, observing to turn them every other day at least, to prevent them from taking root again; which in moist weather they would be apt to do. At any rate, they are very apt to grow in the lofts where they are kept all winter; the most effectual method of preventing which is, with a hot iron, slightly to touch their beards or roots, which will effectually prevent their sprouting; but in doing this, great caution must be used not to scorch the pulp, for that will cause them to perish soon after. In order to save seeds, you must in the spring make choice of some of the largest, firmest, and best shaped onions (in quantity proportionable to the seed you intend to save), and having prepared a piece of good ground, which should be well dug, and laid out in beds about three feet wide, the onions must be planted in the beginning of March in the following manner: Having strained a line of about four inches within the side of the bed, you must with a spade throw out an opening six inches deep, the length of
the bed, into which you should place the onions with their roots downward, at about nine inches distance from each other; and with a rake draw the earth into the opening again to cover the bulbs; then proceed to remove the line again about a foot farther back, where you must make an opening as before, and so again, till the whole is finished, by which you will have four rows in each bed; between each bed you must allow the space of two feet for an alley to go among them. In a month's time the leaves will appear above ground, and many of the roots will produce three or four stalks each. About the beginning of June, when the flowers begin to appear, the stalks must be tied to stakes to prevent them from being broke by their own weight. About the end of August the feed will be ripe; which may be known by the opening of the cells which contain it, and its changing to a brown colour. When the heads are cut off, they should be spread abroad upon coarse cloths in the sun, observing to keep it under shelter in the night, as also in wet weather. When the heads are quite dry, the seeds should be beat out from them; and after being cleared from the husks, and exposed one day to the sun to dry, they may be put up in bags for use.
Besides the above-mentioned sorts of onions, the scallions or scallions, and Welsh onions, were formerly in great repute. The former is a sort which never forms any bulbs at the roots, and was chiefly used in the spring for green onions; but is now become so scarce as hardly to be known. Some gardeners, instead of the scallion, substitute such onions as decay and sprout in the house. These they plant in a bed early in the spring, and in a short time they become large enough for use. The true scallion is easily propagated by parting the roots either in spring or autumn; but the latter is preferable. The roots should be planted three or four in a hole, and about six inches distance every way.—The Welsh onions are propagated only for spring use; they never make any bulbs, and are therefore fit only to be used green for salads. They are sown in the end of July, in beds about three feet and a half wide. In a fortnight's time they appear above ground; but in October their blades die, and the ground becomes quite naked. In January, however, they will again appear very strong, and in March will be fit to draw for young onions.
6. The porrum, or leek, has been so long cultivated, that its native place of growth cannot be traced. It is undoubtedly the same as that mentioned in the eleventh Chap. of Numbers, where it is said the Israelites longed for leeks in conjunction with onions. The leaves are much of the same nature as those of the latter, and they are yet a constant dish at the tables of the Egyptians, who chop them small and then eat them with their meat. They are in great esteem, too, with the Welsh, and their general use as a pot-herb is well known.—Their culture is the same with that of the onion.