^46 AQRKVVrURAL ^33 AYS. 



are less in size than the red, and somewhat milder, but the white, 

 (of Spain and of Florence,) though the smallest, are the mUdest, 

 the soonest fit for use, and the best for keeping-. They 

 are eaten by some like apples. On analysis, they are 

 found to possess less of those elements (oil and sulphur) which 

 give the common onion its peculiar taste and smell. A rich 

 aandy soil is the most favorable to the onion. They have been 

 known to grow to the size of a foot or more in diameter. In 

 clay or stony soil, or pure sand, the onion does not prosper. It 

 IS propagated by the seeds or the bulbs. It is said the Tartars 

 propagate them by cutting; they slit the bulb downwards, and 

 leave to each cutting a portion of the fibrous roots. 



When sown, it should be in drills, twelve or fourteen inch- 

 es apart, cover with mould, and when the plants come up 

 they should be thinned, so as to stand three or four inchest 

 apart. The ground should be mellowed at the depth of three 

 or four inches only. After the ^rth has acquired a tempera- 

 ture favorable to vegetation in the spring, the sooner they are 

 sown the better. In hoeing them, they should only be kept 

 •lear of weeds, and the dirt loosened about them, but no earth 

 4rawn upon the root to hill them. The tops should be broken 

 'down after they have grown to the length of eight or ten inch- 

 es, that the juices may determine to the bulbs. The small 

 'kalf grown onion may be institute^ for the seed. The cana- 

 4ense variety should always be managed in this way: They 

 May be preserved through the winter in a dry and moderately 

 warm cellar. Frost does not injure them as it does many 

 ^ther roots. The largest are set out in the spring for see^ 

 and when perfectly ripe, the stems are cut, and the seed left 

 m the capsules for use. If preserved in this way, it is said the 

 "meed retains its germinating power much longer than if thrash- 

 «d immediately after ripening. 



Sallads. Of these, lettice is|the plant in most general use 

 Ihe principal varieties of which are, the head lettice, the curled 

 Jettice, and the lettice with open, straight, and erect leaves:; 

 altJiou^h 4)otanists, it is said, have multiplied the varieties of 



