302 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



low,- moist soils, hardy. This and Danvers Globe consti- 

 tute a main part of the California product. 



Tree-onion: a variety which produces top-sets instead 

 of seed at the head of the seed stem. Used in garden cul- 

 ture as already described. It serves a good purpose under 

 certain conditions, but is very little used in this State. 



THE LEEK. 



California produces large quantities of leek seed for dis- 

 tant sale, but the leek itself is but little grown in Cali- 

 fornia, except by market gardeners, and its use is chiefly 

 by citizens of foreign birth. The edible part is the 

 blanched lower leaves of the plant. The culture is at first 

 practically the same as that described for transplanted 

 onions, except that the young leek plant is deeply set in 

 a depression in friable soil, and as it grows the earth is 

 drawn about the leaves, which are tightly sheathed to- 

 gether so as to blanch them into the appearance of a thick 

 white stem. Thus the later cultivation of the plant re- 

 sembles that of celery. It is handiest in the garden to sow 

 the seed in drills one foot apart, at intervals from fall to 

 spring, so as to have a succession, and plant the seedlings 

 when about the diameter of a goose quill, in the bottom 

 of a drill or furrow several inches deep. The plants need 

 wide spacing, say six to ten inches, for they reach con- 

 siderable thickness and make large display of leaves. Cul- 

 tivation gradually levels the ground. Leeks need ample 

 moisture and good cultivation to attain fine size and ten- 

 derness. If the blanching is not particularly cared for, 

 the plants may be grown at the surface just as onions are, 

 except for the greater distance the plant requires to de- 

 velop. The leeks chiefly grown in California are the Large 

 American Flag, of good, uniform size, and strong growth ; 

 the Musselburgh, short, thick stem and large, broad leaves ; 

 the Large Rouen, a large, strong variety, and the Mon- 

 strous Caratan, with dark-colored foliage. 



GARLIC. 

 What is said of the restricted local use of the leek ap- 



