FARMERS' REGISTER—COILING SYSTEM— ONIONS. 



599 



round the pot. You will easily understand fron\ 

 this, liow important it is to sui:ply vines so treated 

 with licjuid manure, either by watering Irom above, 

 or by a supply from a saucer or leader Ironi be- 

 low. 



Welbeck Gardens, Jan. 16, 1834. 



Since we receiv^ed the above account from Mr. 

 Meanip, we have heard the ariicle on the same 

 subject, to which he alludes, read before a meeting 

 of the horticultural societj'. In this paper, the 

 names of a number of varieties are mentioned, 

 which had been thus fruited; including the musca- 

 dines, black clusters, black Hamburgh, black Da- 

 mascus, black Tri[)oli, muscat of Alexandria, &c. 

 INIr. Mearns also mentions that, hearing of a new 

 and line variety of muscat, called the Candia, 

 which had been a few years ago introduced into 

 the Duke of Buccleugh's gardens, at Dalkeith, he 

 wrote last autumn to i\Ir. Macdonald, the garden 

 er there, for some of the prunings of this vine, and 

 that he had, at the time the pa])er was written, 

 (Feb. 1834,) plants of the Candia at Welbeck, 

 Irom coils oi" the prunings received, with numerous 

 bunches of fruit on them, which would ripen in 

 April and May next. 



We regard this discovery of Mr. Mearns as one 

 of considerable importance, not only as showing 

 what may be done in the i)articular case of the 

 vine, but as tending to iamiliarise practical gard- 

 eners with some points in vegetable physiology. 

 It is clear that the coiled shoot is a reservoir of nu- 

 triment to the young growth, in the same manner 

 as the tuber of the potato is an accumulation of 

 nutriment for the youngshoots, which proceed from 

 its buds or eyes when planted. To a certain ex- 

 tent, long shoots of any tree whatever if buried in 

 the soil, either coiled or extended, and two or three 

 inches or feet of their upper extremities kept out 

 of the ground, would produce leaves, blossoms, 

 and even li'uit, the first 3-ear: but those shoots, 

 which, from their nature, do not freely emit fibres, 

 or do not emit them at all, would perhaps not set 

 their fruit; or might even cease to produce leaves 

 in the course of a few months. The reason, in 

 that case, would be, that the reservoir of nourish- 

 ment soon becomes exhausted, if it is not supplied 

 from the soil; and that the only mode by which 

 the shoot can obtain nourishment from the soil is 

 by means of fibres, which it has either no power 

 of producing at all, or cannot produce in suiScient 

 abundance. The advantages of the coiling sys- 

 tem are, that an almost unlimited number of fibres 

 or mouths are produced by it, in a very li mixed 

 portion of soil; that this soil can be rendered of 

 the most suitable descriptions for the given plant, 

 supplied abundantly with liquid manure, and re- 

 newed almost at pleasure. The use of cutting off 

 all these fibres or mouths, when they get too long, 

 is merely to keep them within a limited space; for 

 when a fibre elongates, unless it has at the same 

 time, room to branch out, so as to produce other 

 fibrils, it can take in no more nourishment than 

 when it is short,' say an inch long; because the 

 nourishment is only taken in by the spongiole, or 

 point of the fibre. The whole art of rapid cultiva- 

 tion, both in ligneous and herbaceous vegetables, 

 proceeds on this princijjle. The Lancashire goose- 

 berry grower has recourse to it, when he shortens 

 the roots of his plants at a certain distance from 



the stem, every two or three years; thus causing 

 them to emit fibres, for which he prepares a circular 

 trench of rich soil round each tree. Mr. Mearns's 

 mode of treating the p,each, and other fruit trees, 

 and the mode of cuhivuting cabbages, and other 

 plants of that kind, by picking out from the seed- 

 bed, and transplanting and re-transpJanting into 

 rich soil, instead of sowing where the plants are 

 finally to remain, all proceed on the principle of 

 multiplying the mouths, and increasing the supply 

 of rich fboti, witiiin a limited space. The result 

 of this is, both in ligneous and herbaceous plants, 

 that maturity is obtained with less magnitude than 

 in a natural state, and in a much shorter time. 

 The essential principle is the abundant sup|)ly of 

 rich nutriment; and the same principle produces 

 exactly the same results in the animal kingdom. 

 Hence the small-sized, early-fitting varieties of 

 cattle, sheep, swine, &c. 



Where a plant or animal is grown or reared 

 chiefly to be consumed as food, the application of 

 this ]irinci]ile seems desirable and advantageous; 

 but when the natural character and beauty of the 

 plant or animal are desiderata, a more natural 

 mode of treatment, or one more resembling that 

 which- is generally followed, is requisite for attain- 

 ing the end in view. 



All intricate operations of culture, such as those 

 of the coiling system, the chambering of the roots 

 of trees, taking up and replanting, particular modes 

 of training, ringing, &c. it should never be forffot- 

 ten either by gardeners or their employers,"are 

 only calculated for places where abundance of men 

 are kept, and where also there is considerable skill 

 in at least one or two of these men. When these 

 and similar operations are attempted in places 

 where there are scarcely hands enough to keep the 

 garden in order by the common practices, fiiilureis 

 certain to attend either the new practice or the old 

 ones, and probably both. — Conductor. 



From Loudon's Magazine. 

 A DESCRIPTION OF A MODE OF CULTIVATING 

 ONIONS. 



By Mr. Williaim Whidden. 



Sir — Your correspondent, John Mitchel, jun., 

 treats on the culture of the onion. I write not to 

 dissuade him from following the plans which his 

 own observation has suggested to him, but to 

 state my own experience on this subject, as it dif- 

 fers widely from his. In March, 1830, I lived as 

 gardener to J. B. Praed, Esq. of Tyringham, 

 Bucks; and, having occasion to make an asparagus 

 bed, I resolved upon sowing onions, of the Dept- 

 fbrd sort, in drills between the rows. The ground 

 was not prepared in the way usual for asparagus, 

 but turned over to the dej)th of one sptide only. 

 The soil being of a tenacious and cohesive quality, 

 I used a quantity of coal-ashes and rotten dung: 

 and all behigin readiness for the asparagus, I pro- 

 ceeded to plant it in rows eighteen inches asunder, 

 and the onions in drills between these rows. I 

 finished each row as I proceeded, which caused a 

 great deal of trampling, and the ground was re- 

 markably hard after the whole VN-as completed. 

 When the crops began togrou^, I thought of hoe- 

 ing, thinning, &c.; but, being a native of North- 

 ampton, where some of the best onions in the 

 kingdom are grown, I recollected seeing, at differ- 

 ent times, omens growing in the hard wallc, and 



