THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



113 



is one of the most profitable crops you 

 can grow, and lience deserves every 

 proper attention. 



Onions are very definite in their 

 habit. When they have grown as 

 much as they mean to, they twist their 

 own necks and expire quietly. The 

 hot autumn sunshine helps them, and 

 as soon as this happens leave off water- 

 ing, and let them alone. If there is a 

 little inequality among them as to a 

 disposition to ripen, bend down the 

 necks of the greenest, giving the grass 

 a slight twist, and that will help them 

 into a seasonable sleep. Do not take 

 any up until the grass is dry and nearly 

 withered, and then separate the thick- 

 necked or " bull-necked," as they are 

 called, from those that ai-e thoroughly 

 ripe and dry at the crown ; the latter 

 are to be stored, and the full-necks to 

 be used as they are wanted. Eadishes 

 are frequentl}^ grown between rows of 

 onions, and both may be sown toge- 

 ther, the radishes in drills between 

 them, and to be drawn as soon as 

 possible ; but as long as you have a 

 bit of ground for radishes apart from 

 onions, let the latter enjoy the bed to 

 themselves, for as soon as the radishes 

 get a tolerable size they send their 

 roots very deep, and rob the onions of 

 their birthright. A second crop, to be 

 drawn young, may be sown in AprU ; 

 and, indeed, sowings may be repeated 

 from this time to August, when a crop 

 to stand the winter may be got in, on 

 a warm slope, and for these the soil 

 need not be quite so rich. 



To grow onions for pickling, the 

 poorest and driest piece of ground you 

 have should be chosen. The sort 

 mostly used is the Silver-skin, but I 

 should recommend in preference the 

 White Globe, sown very thick, and 

 after sowing watered once or twice 

 with liquid guano, as described in pre- 

 vious pages. This will give them a 

 start, and after that they should have 

 neither liquid manure nor any other 

 special nourishment, and they should 

 be scarcely, if at all, thinned. If sown 

 in March they will be ripe early in 

 July, and a small bed will furnish an 

 immense number of small neatly- 

 shaped bulbs for pickling. Trim them 

 up, put them in salt and water for a 

 day, and then drain them, and put 



them in strong vinegar tliat has been 

 boiled with plenty of spices, and your 

 friends will hurry from all quarters of 

 the world to taste them, and you your- 

 self will aver, that between home-made 

 and shop pickles there is a "gulf 

 fixed." A home-pickled onion is the 

 very perfection of all that's nice and 

 refreshing in the tart waj^ and one 

 would wish to live a hundred years 

 for the sake of enjoying them daily, 

 and in full faith that " nobody was 

 coming," for it won't do just before 

 you mean to kiss coral lips or whisper 

 a secret in a friend's car. 



Shallots and garlic arc useful mem- 

 bers of the onion family ; the first re- 

 sembles the onion in flavour, but does 

 not leave so unpleasant a smell on the 

 palate ; the other has a flavour peculiar 

 to itself, and an odour that no one 

 can mistake who has once enjoyed a 

 puff from the mouth of a wandering 

 Spaniard, Garlic gives a; peculiar 

 piquancy to soups and stews, but 

 English cooks are not generally ac- 

 quainted with the proper way to use 

 it, hence it is not a great favourite in 

 our kitchens. In ordinary cookery 

 the garlic and parsley should be chop- 

 ped up together, and popped in at the 

 very last moment, and just allowed to 

 boil up for one minute, then the par- 

 sley preserves its beautiful colour, and 

 the garlic its delicious flavour — in a 

 well-made hash it is a splendid addi- 

 tion, the onion is not to be compared 

 with it. 



These bulbs are propagated by 

 offsets ; seed is never saved ; they 

 require a rich light soil ; the long- 

 keeping shallot is the best, and keeps 

 quite two years. Plant the offsets in 

 October or February, on raised dry 

 beds three and a-half feet wide ; let 

 the rows be nine inches apart, and the 

 sets six inches apart in the row. Like 

 the onion it does not like its bulbs 

 to be covered when it has once begun 

 to grow ; hence, in planting, the set 

 must be just pressed into the earth, 

 and then covered with old tan or coal 

 ashes; the latter to be removed as 

 soon as the bulbs have got a firm root 

 in the ground. No other culture is 

 necessary beyond keeping the groimd 

 clean, and occasionally stirrmg be- 

 tween the rows very gently. About 

 f2 



