JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



220 



may he increased by cntting off the heads. Should be sown 

 at the beginning of April, planted out at the end of June, and 

 otherwise treated as the Borecoles. 



ONIONS. 



A most important vegetable, but one that causes its growers 

 great anxiety on account of its liability to the attacks of the 

 Onion fly. The varieties aie many, but the best I have grown 

 are the following : — 



Danvek's Early Yellow.— A mild-flavoured kind, growing 

 sooner to its full size than any other, and preferable to the White 

 Spanish on account of its larger proportions and better keeping 

 qualities. 



For autumn and early winter use — • 



Ee.vding.— A large heavy-cropping variety of White Spanish. 



NuNEHAM P.iKK. — Larger and a better keeper than the ordinai-y 

 White Spanish. 



For early winter use — 



Bedfordshire Champion. — A large type of, and better crop- 

 ping and keeping variety than White Globe. 



Beows Spanish. — Firm and flat; a good keeper and heavy 

 cropper. 



For winter use — ■ 



Deptford or Strasbukg. — A form of Brown Spanish ; a good 

 cropper, and keeps well. 



James's Keeping. — An oblong, sti'ong-flavoured, good-cropping 

 tind. It keeps splendidly, and is the best of aU for winter. 



Blood Red. — The latest-keepiug of aU sorts, not very large 

 but strong-flavoured. 



Of these, an ounce of seed to the acre will be found suffi- 

 •cieut. For small gardens I would recommend only three kinds, 

 Danver's Early Yellow, Bedfordshu-e Champion, and James's 

 Keeping. For pickling, as well as for salads. Early Nocera wiU 

 lie found very useful, as it is early and mild-flavoured. The 

 test, however, for this purpose is Two-bladed, a small brown- 

 skinned variety. For autumn sowing there are these two 

 mild-flavoured sorts, TripoU Flat Italian, large and handsome, 

 juid White Lisbon, the latter of which is excellent for drawing 

 in a young state during the spring. Of Giant and Mammoth, 

 recently introduced kinds, I know nothing, and would be glad 

 if any of your readers would give their experience of them. 



When the ground has ceased to be sodden, that is in the early 

 part of Jlarcli, then is the time to sow Onions. The ground 

 should not have been just manured, but this should have been 

 done the autumn before with well-decayed material, and the 

 ground trenched roughly to stand the winter, or if the soil 

 is stiff, ridged instead. In February, during dry or frosty 

 weather, the surface should be smoothed, and the plot di\-ided 

 into beds 4 feet wide, with alleys of 1 foot in width. On these 

 beds place well-decayed maniu'e to the depth of 2 inches. A 

 day or two before sowing, the beds should be dressed with a 

 mixtirre of soot and lime (two pai-ts of the former to one of 

 the latter), laid on at the rate of one peck to 20 square yards, 

 and then pointed over again. Alter this apply to the surface, 

 at the rate of ten gallons to 20 square yards, ammoniacal 

 liquor of the gasworks, diluted in six times its volume of water. 

 Soil from the alleys should now be thrown over the beds, so as 

 to cover them an inch deep, and then be trodden very firm. 

 The surface must be raked, and afterwards the drills made at 

 3 inches dist,^nce from the sides of the bed, and six from each 

 other, and just deep enough to allow half an inch of soil 

 above the seed. An ounce of seed will be sufficient for a bed 

 of 9 square yards. Cover the seed with soil, tread it firm, 

 again rake lightly, and then go over the whole with a one- 

 ianded garden roller. Mark off the bods neatly, and dress the 

 surface of the alleys. These last, by the way, may have a 

 border of Tom Thumb, All the Y'ear Eouud, or any other kind 

 of moderate-sized Lettuce. 



As weeds appear they shoiild be rooted up with the hoe, or, 

 if this cannot be safely attempted, by means of hand labour. 

 The plants should be thinned first to 2 inches apart, and lastly 

 to 4 inches, when aU weeding must be done with the hand. 

 After being finally thinned they should receive a dressing of 

 two parts of guano and one of salt, appUed at the rate of one 

 peck to 30 square yards. When the oldest leaves begin to look 

 yellow breiik down the stems to about 2 inches from the bulb, 

 as by so doing the size of the bulb is increased. 'SMien ripe 

 take them up, dry and clean them, and store them in as cool 

 a place as possible, provided it be not frosty. They can be 

 strung and hung up if desired. 



Onions require a sunny open situation, and may remain un- 

 ■watered. If, however, a plentiful supply of water can be given 



them twice a-week, and continued during very di-y weather, it 

 may be done. The distances generally recommended are 

 9 inches between the rows, and 5 or 6 inches (obtained by 

 thinning) from plant to plant. I have tried both, and have 

 found the smaller distance the preferable. For pickling. 

 Onions should be sown in the beginning of Apiil, only rather 

 thicker than hi the other case — 1 ounce to 6 square yards. In 

 other points their treatment is the same. 



Those for drawing in spring and summer should be sown on 

 the 10th of August, and planted out towards the end of March 

 in beds 4 feet in width previously prepared. Place them 

 3 inches apart in rows 4J inches from one another, and water 

 them until they are estabUshed. In drawing, every alternate 

 row and every other plant in the remaining rows should be 

 taken up, thus leaving ample space for the development of 

 those that are left. 



Of small Onions for salads, the SUver-skinned and Nocera 

 are the best. They should be so-mi monthly from February to 

 April, and placed in frames in a gentle heat. In July the 

 monthly sowings may be begun again and continued until 

 November. Those sown after August may be put in boxes for 

 the sake of the convenience it affords for placing them in heat 

 when the cold weather comes on. The temperatm-e they re- 

 quire is one of 45^. I have been told that by rubbing a few 

 needle-Uke Onions round the inside of a bowl, and then with- 

 drawing them, a good flavour is given to the salad placed in 

 afterwards. — G. Abbey. 



THE KENTISH AND MOEELLO CHERRIES. 



The abovenamed are, perhaps, the most useful varieties to 

 cultivate in any garden. The Morello is veiy well known and 

 universally cultivated, but not so the Kentish. This variety 

 is not often grown under any form. It is, nevertheless, an 

 exceedingly useful sort, and well worthy of notice. I grow it 

 ag a pyramid on the Mahaleb stock, and it bears abundantly. 

 It ripens early, and for this reason is very useful for culinary 

 purposes before the Morello comes in. The tree is of free 

 growth, and makes a very handsome pyramid. 



The Morello is a late Cherry, and is probably more cul- 

 tivated than any other sort. I have grown it in three different 

 ways, and have been successful in all of them. No other fruit 

 is better adapted for furnishing a north wall than this. Certain 

 varieties of Pears, Plums, and Apricots have been recom- 

 mended for this purpose, but as far as I am aware, it cannot 

 be said that anything Uke permanent success has attended the 

 cultivation of any of them under such circumstances. If any 

 of our correspondents have been successful in growing any of 

 the above on a north wall, the record of their success, and the 

 circumstances attending it, could not fail to be of much use to 

 all practical men. 



As regards the Morello, it can be cultivated on a north wall 

 with a certainty of success, and will succeed in any description 

 of soil. The only instance I know of it failing was in the 

 case of a tree planted in a clayey loam with a heavy clay sub- 

 soil. Probably defective drainage was the cause of this, more 

 especially as a border under a north wall seldom receives any 

 benefit from the svm. Eft'ective drainage is therefore the more 

 necessary. 



Wall-trained Morello Cherries require rather different treat- 

 ment as regards pruning and training than other fruit trees. 

 All the fruit is produced from the yotmg wood of the previous 

 year, and a httle management is necessary in order to cover 

 the wall regularly with bearing wood, especially when the 

 trees are old. The yoimg wood should be laid-in rather more 

 thickly than is usual with other sorts of Cherries, but the 

 shoots should not on any accoimt be crowded too closely 

 together. Cherry trees of all sorts are liable to be attacked by 

 the black aphis on the young growing shoots, when the leaves 

 curl, and make it very difficult to dislodge them. A careful 

 watch should be kept for its first appearance — that is, before 

 the leaves begin to cvirl, and then water in which soft soap 

 has been dissolved should be apphed with considerable force 

 through a syringe or garden engine. If the pest has firmly 

 estabhshed itself, the only way to get rid of it is to take the 

 shoot in one hand, and with a brush which has been dipped 

 in the soft-soap mixture brush the leaves over. Gishurst 

 compound at the rate of 3 ozs. to the gallon of water is also aa 

 effectual remedy. 



Pyramid trees of this variety worked on the Mahaleb stock 

 bear most abundantly ; and as 'far as my observations have gone 

 trees trained in this manner are not so liable to be attacked 



