The Devil's Posy-Stories of "Rank and Guilty Garlic"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 85, 27 April 1937, Page 15

The Devil's Posy-Stories of "Rank and Guilty Garlic"

Poor Man's Cure-all of Medieval Centuries

AUyif T takes courage to prAise Charles Lamb's "rank and guilby garlic." A flxed conviction of the beatity of its flowers urges the plea that a taitdy justice should be hieted out to ifc. As a true daughter of Adam, I take as much pleasure in the kifcchen garden as in gay flower beds and borders (says a wrlter in the Melboufne Age). This sunny morning I have been watching the thiy garlic flowers throw oflf their community night-caps (spathes), spreading theniselveS into great spheres of silver and palest green, as they make their bid for the bee's favour. There is no snobbishness about the bee. She exploits impartially the sweetest of flower or vegetable garden. The acrid scent of garlic is as sweet to her as that of the violet. The comparison is apfc, for there is said to be some aflinity between the two scents. A certain lily has the scent of violets until crushed, when it smells of garlic! The vlolet-petfumed flowers of a cassia make the breath smell of garlic! Unconvincing Saw. As i watched the hosts of bees raiding my lilac globes of garlic flowers, the words of a medieval bee master soenied unconvincing. "if thou would'st win the favour of thy bees that they sting thee not, thou must avoid such things As offend them; thou ftiusfc not come among them having a stinking breath caused through eating leeks, onions, garleeke, and the like." Apparently what is sauce for the bee must not be sauce for the beekeeper! Lookipg at the globes of dainty flowers that sway ^ from the tops of tall garlic stems, one appreciates the name, Devil's Posy. They really are great posies of small, but perfect, flowers. Tradltion has it that, as Satan left the Oarden of Eden, garlic sprang up from the soll which his right foot trod, and onions from that under his left foot. Thus garlic is one of the devil's Plants! With the shedding qf their tall night caps the • little garlic _ sun worshippers change their robes of silver and green to, muted colours in amethyst and mauve. On 10-feet stems they are certainly most decorative among the yegetables. Taking the bull by the horns, lefc me sg,y at once that these happy maypoles might grace the flower borders. Why not? As a glrdener who is eager to try everyfcliing, once, I shall support my view by plantittg a few bulbs in the flower beds! The lllac globes shall nod above cannas and fox-gloves. They

shall issue a challenge to the "cririklypaper" flowers of tall hollyhocks. I may even smuggle a plant into the lily bed itself, there to tower above its more regal relations, and bow to its dainty cousin, the blue scylla. Again, why not? The years of gardening have not fulfilled themselves if they bring not courage, as welL as wisdom. Seeing it growing thus among its own lily aristocracy one may perhaps outgrow one's prejudice against the "rank and guilty garlic," even as the gentle Elia oufcgrew his passion for roast pork. After all, tohy should there be a culttiral fence between flowers and vegetables? No really lovable garden could be snobbish. One looks back with longing to the cottage gardens of our great-grandmothers, in which cardoons and cabbages and Canterbury bells grew slde by side; where stately garlic and lilies, pinks and marigolds all grew together in sweet confusion — unreasonable, perhaps, but wholly delightful. Frlendly Gustom. M0ST of otir gardens have lost the friendly custom, and with it much of their grace and sweet simplicity. It takes all sorts of people to make a gardening fraternity. Surely there are some whose artistic sense is able to triumph over an admittedly unpleasant odour. Those who have little leisure to watch the changing colourS of garlic flowers should cut them, while sfcill in bud, and follow indoor the casting of tall, pointed dunces' caps, the unfolding of delicate flowers. Should they make their presence felt, the water should be changed more frequently. There still exists an old belief in the influenoes of the moon upon planfc growth. Tradition says that If planted at full moon the root of garlic grows round like an onion. If planted at any other time it grows ln sections (cloves) like the quarters of an orange. Now, which had I done? I teased my memory in vain tjhen ruthlessly uprooted a plant. . Botany Triumphs. Full moon, of course. There it was, sihooth and round. Idly I stripped off the smooth outer coat — only to see seven triangular sections beautifully packed round the central stem, fitting as snugly as the quarters of an orange! Botany had triumphed over tradition! Ifc must be confessed that few people to-day eat garlic with enthusiasm; yet, when Homer, the Greek poet who lived perhaps eight centuries and a-half before Christ, enterfcained his guests, yellow garlic (moly) had a place at the feasfc. Moreover, to placate Hecate; the infa&ious poisoner of ancienfc times, the Greeks

placed a "supper" of garlic on piles of stones at cross-roads! Throughout the ages garlic has been credited with magic powers. "While it is a sin an onion to devour, a clove of garlic has a magic power." So garlic keeps us from enchantments and other ilLs. If you spill salt, see a black crow or three magpies, walk under a ladder, have thirteen at table, use garlic for safety! Did not Ulysses resist the terrible pofcion of Circe, which changed his companions into swine, because Hermes had taught him that yellow garlic was its antidote? According to many old herbals garlic possesses all the virtues. Galen, ohe of the greatest physicians of antiquity, eulogised it as the rustic's theriac (heai-all). It was known for centuries as poor-man's "treacle" — a word which has lost its original meaning. Only 400 years ago, treacle was Coverdale's rendering of the word balm. ("Is there no treacle in Gilead?") And for this reason his bible was often referred to as the Treacle Bible. Garlic was one of the 400 simples of the great Greek physician, Hippocrates, the father of medicine. Half of those simples are in Use to-day! On the other hand, Gerard, the 15th century author of one of the most beautifully written herbals in existence, affirms that garlic "yields no nourishment at all; it engendereth naughty and sharp blood." Use as Cure-all. JN spite of Gerard's condemnation, many writers praise its usefulness in treating numerous ailments. In China, for centuries, hay-fever and asthma have been attacked with gariic. It is used, too, in treating pulmonary complaints. It was so much used during the Middle Ages for leprosy that a leper was called a pilgaric (peel garlic). Some writers interpret the word different. Many of garlic's alleged virtues may be accepted. Ofchers are merely ludicrous. According to the ancient Doctrine of Signatures, the usefulness of plants is seen in certain signs, or signatures, on leaf, stem, flower, seed, or fruit. Garlic has a hollow stem, so it is useful in affections of the throat! The seed is black, therefore it dims the sight! We admit that garlic is not popular. Its claim to our favour is greatly discounted by the sin of its smell. Shakespeare was especially unkind to it, and makes Dorcas recommend .it to CloWn to mend Mopsa's kissing with! We admit that garlic is picfcuresqUe and useful. Away, then, with prejudice. Why not reinstate a much-abused plant of tradition and healing? Let it bloom among the lilies!