I30 



IRISH GARDENING. 



good keei^ing quarters. The Onions with necks 

 too short for stringing may be placed thinly in 

 trays and kept dry. The essential requirement 

 in storing Onions is to have them properly dried, 

 and, if the weather be wet at harvesting, I would 

 counsel a thorough drying over the kitchen tire, 

 taking care not to roast them, of course. If a 

 garden frame is available it will atford means for 

 drying quite a large quantity. When spring 

 approaches many of the bulbs will get soft and 

 signs of growth take place, use these bulbs 

 before they become 

 unfit, and, if too many 

 run in, one can plant 

 out with a chance of 

 their splitting into 

 several growths ere 

 sending lip their flower 

 heads- These growths 

 will make useful flavour- 

 ing for soups, stews, 

 &c., and may save the 

 younger autumn sown 

 ones from a premature 

 drawing. 



The Carrot need not 

 be lifted until the 

 autumn days become 

 frosty. These roots 

 may be stored in pits 

 or sheds, like Potatoes, 

 the difference in storing 

 is, however, great ; 

 Carrots are laid in 

 layers with sand under 

 and overlying each 

 layer, the leaves are 

 removed about an inch 

 above the root, and all 

 split or deformed Car- 

 rots selected for early 

 use. They require a 

 nice protective cover- 

 ing of soil over them only where placed in 

 the open, but in a shed or proper root storing 

 room sand is all that is needed. Should a supply 

 of sand not be easily obtained, then fine soil, 

 sifted coal ashes or peat moss will be equally 

 suitable to cover them Avith. 



Beetroot requires great care in lifting, and 

 must be dug up with a fork. Should the smallest 

 part of the taproot or skin be broken the Beet 

 will bleed, and when cooked will have lost all its 

 beautiful red colouring besides much of the 

 flavour. The leaves must be wrung off by hand, 

 not cut by knife, and the central rosette of 

 leaves should be left without injury. Store 





Group of 



Roots may be 



exactly as the Carrot, taking cai-e to have the 

 taproot facing inward for fear of injury by 

 pressure from outside. Some growers have 

 advocated leaving Beetroots in the growing 

 quarters during winter, but I, although living in 

 a mild |)art of Ireland, cannot agree with that 

 advice ; exjjerience has taught me to store care- 

 fully and in a frost-proof place. 



Turnips are comparatively easily kept through 

 the winter in either shed or pit with enough 

 covering to exclude frost, while the July 

 and August sown ones 

 will grow on through 

 the hardest of winters. 

 Swedes may stand till 

 Decemter. 



Parsnips are best 

 ]ireserved where they 

 have been growing, and 

 to make sure of easy 

 lifting during the 

 hardest of frost, a 

 light ridge of leaf so'l 

 may be spread over the 

 crowns to keep the 

 soil soft. 



Salsify and Scor- 

 zonera are both roots 

 not generally grown 

 and require little com- 

 ment. Treatment simi- 

 lar to Parsnip will suit 

 them, as all roots have 

 a fuller and fresher 

 flavour when stored as 

 near to nature's way 

 as possible ; every 

 grower should not 

 attempt new-fangled 

 ideas. Celery, if pro- 

 IDerly earthed, should 

 be left in the trench, 

 but given protection 



ElJEMURr. 

 planted now 



in frosty weather. Dry bracken or straw will 

 serve to ward off frost, and a weekly supply 

 may be lifted during frosty weather and kept 

 in a box of sand to save breaking the frosty 

 crust daily. 



Artichoke (Jerusalem) can be lifted and 

 stored in sand or used from the open as found 

 most convenient ; the ripe stems must, of course, 

 be cut down to within a foot of the ground. 



The Leek, as every one knows, can take care 

 of itself in the hardest weather and, although not 

 classed among the roots proper, it is a health- 

 giving, blood-enriching vegetable, which ought 

 to be more widely grown. A. F. Pearson. 



