ALL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ALL 



77 



they may remain until Christmas or after, when you may 

 thresh out the seeds for use. The husk is very tough, and 

 makes it difficult to get out the seeds ; the best way for those 

 who have but a small quantity, is to rub it hard against a 

 rough tile, which will break the husks, and extract the seeds 

 with great dispatch. The Onion is propagated by seeds,which 

 should be sown on good, rich, light ground, well dug, levelled 

 and cleared from weeds, in a dry time, about the latter end 

 of February or beginning of March, when the surface of the 

 ground is not moist, and must not be sown too thick, if intended 

 for a winter crop. In cold wet land, it is best to defer sow- 

 ing till the middle of March ; and in very moist rich soils, 

 it may be done any time before the middle of April ; but the 

 early-sown crops bulb or apple best, and grow to the largest 

 size. Nothing should be sown with Onions except a little 

 Cos Lettuce. t The seed should be fresh ; if above one year 

 old, not one plant in fifty will grow. Six pounds of seed to 

 an acre, or an ounce to a pole, is generally allowed, though 

 most gardeners sow more, because they allow for cuttings or 

 young Onions, which they draw out for the market ; but this 

 injures the main crop. Six or seven weeks after sowing, they 

 should be gently hoed and weeded, and separated where they 

 grow too close, leaving them at least two inches apart. A 

 month or five weeks after, this must be repeated, cutting out 

 all the weeds, and removing the Onions to three or four inches 

 asunder. A month or six weeks afterwards, they must be 

 again hoed and weeded for the third and last time, taking 

 care to cut up all the weeds, and single out the Onions to 

 near six inches square, by which means they will grow much 

 larger than if left too close ; and this, if well performed, will 

 keep the ground clean till the Onions are fit to pull up, but 

 if weeds re-appear, they must be pulled up by the hand, as 

 the Onions will now have begun to bulb, and must not be 

 disturbed by the hoe. Towards the middle of August, the 

 Onions will have arrived at their full growth, which is known 

 by their blades falling to the ground and shrinking ; they 

 should then, before their necks or blades are withered off, 

 be drawn out of the ground, the extreme part of the blade 

 being cropped off,and laiduponadry spot of ground,and turn- 

 ed every day to prevent their striking fresh root, which they 

 will very suddenly do in moist weather. In a fortnight they 

 will be dry enough to house, which must be done in perfectly 

 dry weather, after all the earth has been rubbed from their 

 roots, and taking care to mix no faulty ones among them, as 

 that would spoil great numbers. They'must not lie too thick, 

 which would bring on sweating and the rot, nor be put in 

 a lower room or ground floor, but in a loft or garret ; and the 

 closer they are kept from the air, the better they will keep. 

 Once a month they should be examined, and all the decayed 

 removed ; for after all the care you can possibly take in the 

 drying and housing your Onions, many, especially in mild 

 winters, will grow ; therefore, those who preserve them late 

 in the season, should select a parcel of the firmest, and most 

 likely to keep, from the others, and with a hot iron slightly 

 singe their beards or roots, which will effectually prevent 

 their sprouting ; but great care must be taken not to scorch 

 the pulp of the Onions, for that will cause them to perish soon 

 after. The best-keeping Onions are the Strasburg kind, 

 which have an oval-shaped bulb, but seldom grow so large as 

 the Spanish, which are natter ; the white sort is esteemed the 

 sweetest, but varieties of this sort are not lasting, because 

 they always degenerate. To save Onion seed in the spring 

 choose the firmest, largest, and best-shaped Onions, plant 

 them in rows six inches deep, and nine inches asunder, in a 

 piece of good well dug ground. In a month's time they will 

 appear above ground, and must be well weeded ; and about 

 VOL. i. 7. 



the beginning of June, when the heads of the flowers begin to 

 appear, stakes about four feet long must be provided, and 

 driven into the ground, at about six or eighfrfeet apart ; to 

 which you should fasten some packthread, rope yarn, or small 

 cord, which should be run on each side the stems of the onions, 

 a little below their heads, to support them against the wind 

 and rain, which, as they are also apt to fall by their own 

 weight, often beat them down, when the seeds are formed, and 

 the heads heavy ; and if the stalks be broken before the seeds 

 have arrived at maturity, they will not be near so good, nor 

 keep so long, as those that are perfectly ripened. The seed 

 is known to be ripe by its changing brown about the end of 

 August ; and if not soon cut, the seed will then fall to the 

 ground. When cut, the heads should be spread abroad upon 

 coarse cloths in the sun, sheltering them in the night and in 

 wet weather, and beating out the seeds, which are very easily 

 dicharged from their cells, when quite dry. The seeds must 

 be exposed one day more to the sun, and then preserved in 

 bags for use. The directions above given are for a general 

 crop of winter Onions ; but there are two other crops of this 

 common sort of Onion cultivated for the London market, 

 one called the Michaelmas Onion, which are sown about the 

 middle of August, in beds, pretty close ; from the thinnings 

 of which they earry young green Onions to market in March, 

 for salads, &c. and in the spring they sow more beds in the 

 same manner and for the same purpose, after the Michael- 

 mas Onions have grown too large for salads. To have Onions 

 for pickling, some seed should be sown in light poor land in 

 the middle of April. It should be thickly sown, and not 

 thinned, except they rise in clusters. They will be fit to take 

 up in August. The Scallion or Escallion is a sort of onion 

 which never forms any bulbs at the roots, and was chiefly 

 used in the spring for green onions, but is now scarce, and 

 known to few people. It is propagated by parting the roots in 

 spring or autumn, but the latter season is preferable. They 

 are hardy enough to withstand our severest winters, and 

 well deserve a place in all good kitchen gardens. 



37. Allium Moly ; Yellow Moly. Scape sub-cylindric ; 

 leaves-lanceolate, sessile ; umbel level-topped. Native of 

 Hungary, or Monte Baldo, about Montpellier, and on the 

 Pyrenees. This was formerly preserved in gardens for the 

 sake of its yellow flowers, but, having a very strong garlic 

 scent, most people have rooted it out. It increases plenti- 

 fully, both by roots and seed. The whole plant smells like 

 garlic, and is, like it, a good remedy in asthmatic com- 

 plaints, the chincough, and other disorders of the breast. 

 It is also of an opening nature, and removes most obstruc- 

 tions of the viscera. 



38. Allium Tricoccum ; Three-seeded Garlic. Scape naked, 

 semi-columnar; leaves lanceolate-oblong, flat, smooth; um- 

 bel globular, seeds solitary. Native of North America. 



39. Allium Fistulosum ; Welch Onion, or Ciboulf. Scape 

 equalling the columnar swelling leaves. This species is 

 perennial, and does not form bulbs like the common Onion, 

 and therefore only fit for salads. They are sown about the 

 end of July, in beds of about three feet and a half wide, and 

 appear above ground in a fortnight ; they must then be 

 weeded. About the middle of October their blades will die 

 away ; but will come up again very strong in January, grow- 

 ing vigorously, and resisting all weathers ; by March they 

 will be fit to draw for young onions, and are more valued in 

 the market than any other sort at that time in season, as they 

 are extremely green and fine, though they are more like the 

 Garlic than the common Onion in taste. The roots of these 

 onions, if planted out at six or eight inches distance in March, 

 will produce ripe seeds in autumn, but it will be in small 



