104 HORTICULTURE 



looked upon as immature and insipid ; when, liowever, the seed- 

 stem has fully developed itself, and " a rung " as hard and as dry 

 as a Bamboo cane occupies the heart of every bulb, they are dig- 

 nified with the title of " Zebollas machos " (male Onions), and 

 thought worthy of all acceptation. Nothing appears more ridicu- 

 lous to an eye accustomed to the gardens of Scotland than a large 

 bed of Onions in Peru ; in the vigour of its growth, it appears as 

 a mere jumble of immense, irregular clumps of green stems 

 running into seed at high pressure power ; and when the water is 

 withheld, for the purpose of ripening the crop, within a mouth it 

 has all the resemblance possible to a field of half-burnt, sun-dried 

 Canes. The clumps are seldom divided ; they are generally in 

 size larger than a man's hat, and the tops being cut off, they are 

 sent to market in their primitive state. The plant is grown at 

 all seasons, but the superfine hard-hearted ones are raised in 

 greatest perfection from June till December. Of course, anything 

 like a round or civilised-shaped Onion is never seen here, that 

 being quite incompatible with the presence of the " rung." I hope 

 I have spoken on this subject with no undue asperity. I am and 

 always have been fond of this vegetable ; and it is no joke to 

 have my teeth — the few the toothache has left me — continually 

 exposed to lesion when I choose to venture on an Onion. 



Cabbage. — Of Cabbage, only one kind is grown here ; and if a 

 specific name was wanting for it, I can think of none more 

 apropos than the " Coai'se Everlasting; " its heart, although not 

 quite so hard as the walking-stick, is sufficiently so to justify the 

 former epithet, and, as it does not run to seed, but is propagated 

 by offsets from the old stem, roughly torn off, and as roughly 

 stuck into the soil, the latter seems not misapplied. This plant 

 affords one of the many instances of the power of a long-continued 

 habit, over natural tendency. There cannot be a doubt that, like 

 all other species of its tribe, it originally ran to seed in its second 

 year, but the continual interference of man, in checking this 

 propensity, by breaking off its branches, has at length, in the 

 course of time, almost eradicated the principle, and it would now 

 be no easy operation to force it into flower. 



Caulifloweb. — This excellent vegetable is plentiful in Chili 

 and Lima, but has only lately been brought to Tacna. About 

 three years ago some hundreds of plants were raised in one of the 

 *' chaci'as " in the vicinity ; in due time they were planted out, and 

 produced very fair heads ; the propagation, as of Cabbage, by 

 offsets, was tried, but this member of the Brassica family would 



