150 THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. [CHAP. VI. 



quality ; and it is also said to prevent them from 

 being attacked by the onion fly, a most destruc- 

 tive insect, the grub of which eats into the bulb 

 of the onion. Onions of enormous size have 

 been grown in England, by raising them on a 

 slight hotbed in February, and transplanting 

 them in April or May. When they are trans- 

 planted it is into very rich soil, three-fourths of 

 which is rotten manure; and only the fibrous 

 roots are buried in the soil, the bulb being left 

 above ground. The plants are placed from nine 

 inches to a foot apart every way, and regularly 

 watered. Onions thus grown are not only of 

 enormous size, but of very delicate flavour. The 

 potato and bulb-bearing onions are generally 

 planted in February and taken up in June or 

 Julv ; and they are thus useful for cottagers 

 and in small gardens, as occupying the ground 

 much less time than the common kinds ; but 

 they are very far inferior both in quality and 

 keeping. 



Neither the native country of the common 

 onion, nor the date of its introduction into Eng- 

 land, is known ; but it has been in cultivation 

 from the earliest times of which we have any 

 record. 



Leeks may be treated like onions, and may 

 be grown to an enormous size by transplanting 

 each plant into a hole about twice its own dia- 

 meter, at the bottom of which its fibrous roots 

 are spread out and covered with earth, while the 

 bulb is left untouched by the soil, standing in a 

 kind of hollow cup. The plant is then supplied 

 with water, and will soon swell so as almost to 



