SCO BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XLV. 



are they nice as to tlieir station ; any open spot where two or three may 

 stand together against a wall or paling, or hedge ; they may also be trained 

 to form a profitable and shady porch at the back or front door, or against 

 any other building. Objections are sometimes made to their climbing 

 liabit, as requiring high rods or sticlis ; but these, thougli most convenient, 

 are not absolutely necessary, as very good crops are produced on a very 

 low rank of sticks put in cross-ways, or with both ends inserted in the 

 ground. 



As early crops are killed by a very slight nighl-frost in the beginning of 

 Mav, the cottager should not venture his seed before the tenth day of the 

 month. The ground should be dry and somewhat warmed by the sun be- 

 fore sowing ; but as they transplant well, the seed may be put in thinly on 

 a small bed on a dry spot about the r20lh of April, and hooped over to be 

 covered if there be signs of frost. These may be transplanted to any 

 other place about the middle of May, and when ground occupied by some 

 other crop may be by that time got off. Runners are liable to suiTer from 

 drought during August and September, they then require copious waterings. 



The onion is one of the cottager's most favourite vegetables ; it gives a 

 relish to even a bit of dry bread, and is a seasoning to every kind of food 

 which falls to his share. Onions are useful in every stage of their growth, 

 and therefore a constant supply should be provided. Two principal sosv- 

 ings should be made in course of the year, — viz., about the 15lh of August 

 for the winter crop, to be chiefly drawn young in the spring ; and again 

 about the middle of March for the summer crop, to grow to full size. For 

 the autumn-sown crop a bed four feet wide across the middle plot of the 

 garden will be enough. Sow pretty thickly, as they protect each other, 

 and are rarely killed by frost. They will soon be useful in the spring, and 

 may then be regularly thinned or drawn to be transplanted on another bed, 

 where they may stand to bulb. Many of this sowing run to seed, but still 

 these are useful, and those that do not run grow to a good size. 



Spring-sown onions require good and well-prepared ground : they should 

 be sown rather thinly ; the seed well trodden in, and slightly covered with 

 a little loose earth from the alleys. During their growth, they require to 

 be kept free from weeds, and to be thinned to four-inch distances from each 

 other. When full-grown, and the tops begin to change colour, bend down 

 the stems to check the growth ; and when this happens, pull, and, unless the 

 weather be rainy, leave them on the bare ground for a week or ten days to 

 wither and be ready for roping. Onions bulb better on well-trodden soil, 

 than if it were loose; the fibres or roots only should be in the ground, 

 the stem should swell entirely in the air. The Strasburg and White 

 Spanish sorts are the best for the cottager. There are many varieties, and 

 many different ways of growing them ; but neither the kinds nor the prac 

 tice are of any superior value in a small garden*. 



The carrot is a useful vegetable, and particularly so as it can be stored 

 for winter use like the potato, and yields good crops if the soil be light or 

 sandy. Sow at any time between the 20th of March and I5th of April. 

 The Orange or Allringham are to be preferred. The ground should be 

 trenched, or double-digged, to grow them fine and large ; and if the soil be 

 clayey or heavy, they come to little perfection unless rows of holes are 

 made by line with a long taper dibber, and filled with light rich earth : on 

 the surface of each hole two or three good seeds are dropped, and lightly 



* The sproiiting of onions dining winter may, it is said, be prevented by applying a 

 heated iron for a few seconds to the nosle of the onion whence the root thrusts itself 

 forward, and will be an effectual mode of preserving them. — Gardener's Magazine. 



