In warm climates, where _garlic_ is produced having considerably less acrimony than in this country, it is much used, both as a seasoning and as food. The lower classes of French, Spaniards, and Portuguese, consume great quantities of it. The Jews also eat of it to excess. With us it is in considerable estimation for culinary and other domestic purposes. It has an acrid taste, and an highly offensive smell; and it differs from the onion only by being more powerful in its effects. When bruised and applied to the skin, it causes inflammation, and raises blisters. The medical properties of garlic are various. In dropsical complaints, asthmas, and agues, it is said to have been successfully used. Some instances have occurred, in deafness, of the beneficial effects of wrapping a clove of garlic in muslin and putting it into the ear. As a medicine internally taken, garlic is administered as a bolus, or made into pills. Its smell is considered an infallible remedy against vapours, and to be useful in nearly all the nervous disorders to which females are subject. An oil is sometimes prepared from garlic, which is so heavy as to sink in water. But the virtues of this pungent vegetable are more perfectly and more readily extracted by spirit of wine than in any other way. A syrup is also made from it. The juice of garlic is said to be the best and strongest cement that can be adopted for broken glass and china, leaving little or no mark, if used with care. Snails, worms, and the grubs, or larvæ of insects, as well as moles, and other vermin, may all be driven away by placing preparations of garlic in or near their haunts. This plant grows wild in the island of Sicily. 100. _LEEKS_ (Allium porrum) _belong to the onion or garlic tribe, and are known by their leaves growing out on each side, somewhat in the shape of a fan._ In some countries leeks are much esteemed for culinary uses, in soups, broth, and for boiling as greens with meat. They are considered the badge of the Welsh nation, and representations of them are frequently worn by persons of that country on the day of their patron saint, St. David. The origin of this custom was an occurrence, during the Welsh wars, in which a party of Welshmen, wanting a mark of distinction, and shortly afterwards passing through a field or garden of leeks, seized and stuck the plants in their caps, and under this signal were victorious. Leeks are natives of Switzerland. 101. _SHALOT_ (Allium ascalonicum) _is a kind of garlic, the bulbs or roots of which are oblong, irregular, and seldom of large size._ _The stem is naked and round; the leaves are somewhat awl-shaped; the head of flowers is globular; and the stamens are three-pointed._