The Canadian Horticulturist. 267 



and the consequent increase of the saliva and the gastric juice promoting 

 digestion. 



Red onions are an excellent diuretic, and the white ones are recom- 

 mended to be eaten raw as a remedy for insomnia. They are a tonic and 

 nutritious. 



A soup made from onions is regarded by the French as an excellent 

 restorative in debility of the digestive organs. 



rM 



A GENERAL ESTIMATE OF THE FRUIT CROP 

 IN ONTARIO. 



R. A. McD. ALLAN, who is constantly moving about through the 

 province, writes : 



" Apples. — The kinds bearing fruit this season are, so far as I 

 have seen, chiefly these : Early — Duchess, a heavy crop generally and good 

 clean fruit ; Red Astrachan, scarcely one-quarter crop, specimens poor. In 

 fail kinds there is a small yield, and kinds varv very much in the different 

 sections : Gravenstein is, on the whole, as good an average as any, although 

 it is not grown in general ; St. Lawrence poor in specimen and not one- 

 eighth crop in best sections ; Alexander, good specimens but not one-quarter 

 crop ; very few Fall Pippins. 



" Winter Apples. — The Ontario seems to be a very fair crop and in many 

 cases very heavy crop, with quality fair. Some signs of spotting. When I 

 give Spy, Russet and Baldwin the bulk of the crop is named, speaking gen- 

 erally, but even then there is not one-quarter crop, taken as a whole. What 

 a come-down from our early expectations ! Alas our estimates ! how cruelly 

 cut down by the blight! It is noticeable that seedlings are generally a fair 

 crop. 



" Pears are over one-half a crop in Clapp, Bartlett, Flemish, Buffam, 

 Lawrence, Louis B., Keiffer, Vicar, Tyson in many sections, and in some 

 sections Clapps, Tyson, Buffam, Lawrence notably are very heavy. 



" Plums are a fair crop in leading plum sections, especially the old reli- 

 able common blue. 



" Grapes. — A good crop generally. 



" Taking all these on a scale of say five as full or heavy crop, I would 

 put them about as follows : Early apples — Duchess, four ; Astrachans, 

 three-quarters to two ; Gravenstein, one to one and one-half ; Baldwin, one ; 

 Spy, one and three-quarters ; Russet, one and one-half; Ontario, three and 

 three-quarters ; Plums, three and one-half ; Pears, two and three-quarters." 



