90 On Onions. 
when I came first to Pennsylvania, to find that onions 
required two seasons to perfect their growth, in a coun- 
try where I found vegetation in general so much more 
rapid than I had been accustomed to see it in my na- 
tive country, and in a country too where the climate is 
so much better, and the summers longer than in Scot- 
land. I immediately concluded that this must be ac- 
‘counted for from the absurd mode of culture which 
had been introduced by the first settlers of the country, 
and its continuance owing to the great difficulty which 
I have always observed in rooting out old habits. I 
inguired of gardeners and others for their opinion on 
this subject, but got little or no satisfaction. I then 
determined to try the mode which I had always seen 
practised in Scotland, and which I myself had followed 
for many years. The result was, my onions were much 
smaller than those which I used to raise in Scotland; 
and though, inferior in size to those raised in two sea- 
sons here, they were harder and better for keeping over 
winter. I did not observe the circumstance which Mr. 
Phillips mentions of their coming some days later, as 
I only raised them for the use of my own family. 
After I had lived in this country a few years, I had 
occasion to observe that the great heat and dry weather 
which generally sets in here about the first of July, and 
continues till the middie of September, has a great ten- 
dency to disconcert the intentions of many European 
plants, particularly those of them which have small fi- 
brous roots, and go but a small way into the soil in 
search of food. ‘hese when the moisture is so com- 
pletely evaporated, and the soil becomes so very dry, 
either perish entirely, or assume a premature ripeness. 
