LEEK, the Allium Porrum of botanists, a plant which is now considered as a mere variety of Allium Ampeloρrasum produced by cultivation. It was formerly regarded as being a native of Switzerland, and the year 1582 has been set down as the date of its introduction to England. Both these assumptions are, however, erroneous. The plant is probably of Eastern origin, since it was commonly cultivated in Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs, and is so to the present day; while as regards its first appearance in England both Tusser and Gerard—two of our earliest writers on this class of subjects, the former of whom flourished in the early part and the latter in the later part of the 1 Gth century—speak of it as being then commonly cultivated and used. The Romans, it would appear, made great use of the leek for savouring their dishes, as seems proved by the number of recipes for its use referred to by Celsius. Hence it is more than probable that it was brought to England by the Romans during the period of their occupation. Italy was celebrated for leeks in the time of Pliny (7/. N., xix. c. 6), according to whom they were brought into great notice and esteem through the emperor Nero, derisively surnamed “Porrophagus,” who used to eat them for several days in every month to clear his voice. The leek is very generally cultivated in Great Britain as an esculent, but more especially in Scotland and in Wales, being esteemed as an excellent and wholesome vegetable, with properties very similar to those of the onion, but of a milder character. In America it is not much cultivated except by market gardeners in the neighbourhood of large cities. The whole plant, with the exception of the fibrous roots, is used in soups and stews. The sheathing stalks of the leaves lap over each ...

חציר, in Numbers xi, 5, translated leek;” in 1 Kings xviii, 5; 2 Kings xix, 26; Job xl, 15; Psalm xxxvii, 2; xc, 5; ciii, 15; civ, 14; cxxix, 6; cxlvii, 8; Isaiah xxxv, 7; xxxvii, 27; xl, 6, it is rendered grass;” in Job viii, 12, herb;” in Prov. xxvii, 25; Isaiah xv, 6, hay;” and in Isaiah xxxiv, 13, a court.” It is much of the same nature with the onion. The kind called _karrat_ by the Arabians, the _allium porrum_ of Linnæus, Hasselquist says, must certainly have been one of those desired by the children of Israel, as it has been cultivated and esteemed from the earliest times to the present in Egypt. The inhabitants are very fond of eating it raw, as sauce for their roasted meat; and the poor people eat it raw with their bread, especially for breakfast. There is reason, however, to doubt whether this plant is intended in Num. xi, 5, and so differently rendered every where else: it should rather intend such vegetables as grow promiscuously with grass. Ludolphus supposes that it may mean lettuce and sallads in general; and Maillet observes, that the succory and endive are eaten with great relish by the people in Egypt: some or all of these may be meant.