154: THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [July, 



THE KAISHA APRICOT. 



(^^niS variety of Apricot has with, me proved, for tlio last two seasons, the 

 V\iij) hardiest in setting its fruit of any kind grown here without protection. In 



fl872 the Moorparh, St. Ambroise^ Orange, and other sorts quite failed, 

 but about half a crop was gathered off the Kaisha. This year, again, 

 there is a failure in the Moorpark and others, but the Kaisha is bearing a full 

 crop. The Kaisha does not grow so large, nor is so fine in colour when ripe as 

 the Moorpark ; but it ripens earlier, and is excellent in flavour either for the 

 dessert or for preserving. Owing to the cold wet summer and autumn of 1872, 

 the Apricots did not ripen their wood so well as in favourable seasons, and when 

 the blossoms opened this spring they did not do so all at once, and showed 

 weakness in setting the fruit, the Kaisha only excepted. I can, therefore, re- 

 commend this variety, for more extensive cultivation, owing to its hardiness in 

 bad seasons. Another great property in its favour is, that the trees are not so 

 subject to gumming or canker in the branches as the Moorpark and other 

 varieties, especially on gravelly subsoils. — William Tillery, Welbeck. 



ONIONS AND CHIVES. 



I EEATHES there a man with soul so dead, who never to himself hath 

 said, This is my own " — my Onion bed ? About one hundred genera- 

 tions back, we find the Onion mentioned amongst the productions of 

 Egypt, and if ever this bulb could be said to be at home, it would surely 

 be in Egypt, that land of mud, and sunshine, and ever-deepening soil, warped and 

 irrigated by the mud and water of the Nile, and then roasted for months without 

 rain. The Onion in its native habitat is more than half aquatic, being found in 

 rich, deep soil, plentifully supplied with water ; and wherever the Onion has 

 attained to the greatest perfection, it has always been where the climate 

 resembled the Egyptian type in sunshine and dryness, for it must be borne in 

 mind that the feeders of the Onion tribe will descend to a depth of 6 ft. in moist 

 or sandy soil after food, the whole family being voracious feeders. Of course 

 everyone knows, or thinks he knows, how to grow Onions and Leeks ; but if the 

 thing is so easy, how is it that we see so many stiff-necked Onions and Leeks ? 

 In all my experience I have never seen the Leek form a bulb but once, and the 

 gardener who grew these told me that when he exhibited a dish of Leeks, in the 

 shape and of the size of white turnips, in Edinburgh, the leading men asked him 

 what they were. It takes two years to grow Leek bulbs. 



Again, in the affair of Chives, it is usual to cut off the tops and leave the 

 little bulb in the ground untouched for years ; but when Chives, top and bottom, 

 are got up, and neatly divided and washed, they make the most gentlemanly 

 Spring Onions that can be got, and are sure croppers, never outgrowing the size 

 that all spring onions ought to be kept at. 



But some one will say, " My garden lies high and dry, and I have no deepness 



