1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



725 



you are hurting yourself. If you are not honest 

 toward your neighbor, you can not honestly 

 ask God to bless and help you. You have by 

 your own act cut yourself off from God, and you 

 can not consistently breathe the little prayer, 

 "Lord, help!" Furthermore, you have opened 

 the way to Satan, and he will not be slow, I 

 assure you, in improving his opportunities. 

 Discord, dissension, strife, suspicions of other 

 people's motives, of their honesty, integrity 

 virtue, and every thing else, will follow in. At 

 the same time Satan will say to you, "Oh, you 

 are all right; do not worry or trouble your- 

 self about it. Nobody knows what you are 

 doing or what you have done. They do not 

 think or see any thing about it; it is a small 

 thing, anyhow. What is the use of being so 

 overparticular and puritanical? At this pres- 

 ent age and time every one has to make his own 

 living — others must take care of themselves. 

 If they are unfortunaely situated, that is not 

 your affair. They will have to manage it them- 

 selves as best they can." Such is the style of 

 the Devil's reasoning. Have you ever heard 

 any of it? Has he whispered to you? Is this 

 quarrel you are in just now a part of Satan's 

 work ? 



Dear friend, let me ask of you, when this 

 meets your eye, are you at peace with God and 

 all mankind? If you are not, is it not possible 

 that what I have been telling you will leaa you 

 to discover the cause of your unhappinoss? If 

 so, you can get back to the Savior's feet if you 

 are willing to bear the cross that you may haiie 

 to bear to reach it. But let me beg of you. do 

 not delay anotber day or another hour. Give 

 up every thing — let every thing else go. Re- 

 member that heaven and earth shall pass away 

 (these friends with whom you are having trou- 

 ble will, like yourself, be soon dead and gone); 

 but the record will be left; and these immortal 

 souls will live on and for ever. Heaven and 

 earth shalH?u7ee(Z pass away; but God's holy 

 word and its teacnings shall not pass away. 



GROWING ONION.S TO BUNCH UP FOR MARKRT. 



As there seems to be more inquiry in regard 

 to this branch of gardening than almost any 

 thing else. I have thought best to consider the 

 matter. We commence selling bunch onions 

 here about Christmas: but we sell more of them 

 along in January. In February there is a 

 steady demand, and from that time till straw- 

 berry time. There are quite a few people who 

 will buy onions to slice up like cucumbers, 

 every day in the year. In some markets enor- 

 mous quantities of them are sold, especially 

 late in the spring, when the onions are about 

 half grown. I remember last summer, at a 

 time when we had concluded the bunch-onion 

 business was over, a huckster came along with 

 a load of stuff. It was raining, so he was 

 anxious to sell out and go home. He had 

 lunches of onions hung up around his wagon, 

 and these bunches were enormous, not only in 

 the size of the onion, but the number he gave 

 for a nickel. I bought him out, and found that 

 some of his bunches weighed about 3 lbs. I told 

 him I thought he was furnishing a good deal 

 for a nickel; but he thought he could do tiptop, 

 even at that price. A pound of green onions, 

 top and all, would perhaps be equivalent to 

 about half a pound after the top is removed and 



the onion properly cured; so that the onions 

 he pulled up and sold, top and all, for a nickel, 

 would have been equivalent to $1.00 a bushel 

 for dry onions. We rarely give over 3 lbs. to a 

 bunch. In January and February we get a 

 nickel for J4 lb. grown in the greenhouse. 



The prettiest onions for bunching are. without 

 question, the American Pearl, White Victoria, 

 or some other pearly-white onion. To grow 

 these under glass, the seed should be put out 

 now (Oct. 1st) — that is, if you have not done it 

 already. A great many of the onions grown 

 under glass are produced by putting any sort of 

 onions that you have no other use for under the 

 beds in the greenhouse. Put them about as 

 close together as they can stand. Give them 

 rich ground and moderate heat, and they will 

 soon commence to grow. Bank up when they 

 are well started; sift on peat or other rich soil 

 until the tops are just covered. When they 

 come through, put on a little more. In this 

 way you will have long tender white stalks. 

 These are frequently put on the table in glasses, 

 like celery. You can grow these all winter 

 long in the greenhouse. But a better looking 

 onion, with something of a bulb, is produced by 

 growing Egyptian or winter onions, in the 

 greenhouse. This is usually done by planting 

 the sets outdoors some time in the fall. These 

 are taken up just before the ground freezes, and 

 planted under glass. Very little heat is re- 

 quired. In fact, very nice onions are often pro- 

 duced in a cold-frame, without any boat. The 

 quality of this winter onion, as I have many 

 times explained, is not equal to the American 

 Pearl and other less hardy varieties; but they 

 are so easily grown you can give a very eood- 

 sized bunch of them, even in winter. Where 

 great quantities of bunch onions are wanted, 

 this is perhaps best for the pnrpo-se. By mulch- 

 ing around the stems as I have described, these 

 may be made to grow very long. Sometimes 

 we see them in the market with stems white 

 and tender, nearly a foot in length. The 

 bottoms of these onions, or the old plants that 

 have raised seed, are sometimes used for forc- 

 ing under glass, and some gardeners prefer 

 them to the sets. A good many, however, ob- 

 ject to the winter onion because it is strong, 

 and becomes tough; and almost anybody will 

 take a bunch of American Pearl onions, even if 

 it is only half the usual size of the winter on- 

 ion when they can get it. 



This brings us to the matter of growing 

 American Pearl onions for bunching, in cold- 

 frames, without the use of any heat except that 

 of the sun. This is done by sowing the seed in 

 beds (in August or September) so the onions 

 will stand about the right distance apart, and 

 having them about the size of onion-sets when 

 cold freezing weather comes on. This onion is 

 so hardy that it can stand quite a good deal of 

 frost. Before the ground freezes up hard and 

 solid, however, the sashes should be put over 

 them. They seem to stand about as much 

 frost as. cold-frame cabbage- plants. In very 

 severe localities, in cold weather it may be best 

 to cover the sashes with shutters or straw 

 mats; but we have never done it, and we have 

 never had our onions much injured while they 

 were covered with glass. It should be remem- 

 bered, however, that onions are a very hardy 

 plant, and are impatient of confinement, if 

 we may so express it. They do much better if 

 the sashes are off entirely whenever it is not 

 freezing, or whenever there happens to be rain 

 in the winter time. They seem to delight in 

 wetness, providing they can have plenty of air. 

 I do not mean by this that they can endure 

 stancUnq water. The plant beds should be 

 well drained, so the water can get away. Along 



