216 



STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



NEW ITALIAN ONIONS. 



generally favorable. The larger kinds, and they are the best, are wonderful in 

 size, beautiful in appearance, sweet, and of pleasant flavor, and excellent for 

 summer, autumn and early winter use. The engravings represent the princi- 

 pal kinds, very much reduced, but show the comparative size and form. Fig. 

 11, New Giant Eocca of Naples, one of the best ; 1.'^, Blood-Red Italian Tripoli ; 

 13, Large White Flat Italian Tripoli, one of the best ; 14, Marzajola, very early, 

 but not as large or showy as the others. 



To those in the north who would secure a good crop of these onions— and in 

 fact, to all who have diflficulty in growing a crop from seed early, — we advise 



15 ^M^ ^^^ following plan : 



Sow the seed thickly 

 in rows in a hot-bed 

 early. "When severe 

 weather is over and 

 the glass is wanted 

 for other purposes, 

 it will not be needed 

 for the onions, as 

 they are pretty har- 

 dy. Keep the weeds 

 down, and about the time for sowing onion seed, transplant these onions to the 

 open ground, giving them a rich soil and plenty of room. Every one will form 

 a large bulb, and very early. The hot-bed work and transplanting will be some 

 trouble, but the troublesome hoeing and hand-weeding and thinning of young 

 onions will be avoided, which all onion growers know is no small labor. We 

 hope many of our readers will try a few in this way, at least, as we have pur- 

 sued this course of culture for some years with the most gratifying results. It 

 is doubtless known to most of our readers that it has been considered difficult 

 to grow onions from seed at the south, because the warm weather checks their 

 growth before bulbs are formed. The hot-bed plan suggested we think will 

 remedy this evil, but the one usually pursued is to plant what is called Onion 

 Sets. These are small onions, about the size of large 

 peas. The seed is sown in the spring in broad rows, 

 in a poor soil, and very thick, where they have not 

 space to make a fair growth. About twenty-eight 

 pounds of seed are sown to the acre. The result is a 

 large quantity of stunted onions, that are taken up in 

 July and dried thoroughly on the ground. They are 

 then stored away to be sold for planting the following 

 spring. These, when planted in the spring, produce 

 good onions, and are used extensively in the south. It 

 is, of course, a good deal of labor to raise a bushel of these little onions, and 

 they generally sell at high prices, from 110 to $15 a bushel. 



Another onion very largely grown by those who cannot succeed with seed, 

 or who want early green onions, is the English Potato Onion, which is the best 

 underground variety. A large onion produces, the first season, under ground, 

 a large cluster of onions, like that shown in the engraving, but the size is re- 

 duced. Many of them, with good culture, will be half the size of ordinary 

 onions. These are put out in the spring, and very early they are ready for use 

 as summer onions, and are .a great favorite with market gardeners. It is this 



POTATO ONION. 



