KITCHEN-GARDENING. 103 



As market gardeners, in the vicinity of large cities, find 

 it most profitable to pull a great proportion of their Onions 

 while young, they generally require at the rate of from eight 

 to ten pounds of seed to an acre of land. 



When the plants are up strong, they should be hoed. Those 

 beds that are to stand for ripening, should be thinned out 

 while young, to the distance of two or three inches from each 

 other. If a few should be required for use after this, those 

 can be taken which incline more to tops than roots ; and if the 

 beds be frequently looked over, and the small and stalky plants 

 taken away where they stand thickest, the remaining bulbs will 

 grow to a larger size. The plants should be hoed at least three 

 times in the early part of their growth ; but if the season prove 

 damp, and weeds vegetate luxuriantly, they must be removed 

 by the hand, because after the Onions have begun to bulb, it 

 would injure them to stir them with a hoe. 



WHEN TO HARVEST ONIONS. 



When the greenness is gone out of the tops of Onions, it is 

 time to take them up ; for from this time the fibrous roots 

 decay. After they are pulled, they should be laid out to dry, 

 and when dry, removed to a place of shelter. 



The small Onions may be planted in the following spring. 

 Even an Onion which is partly rotten will produce good bulbs, 

 if the seed-stems be taken off as soon as they appear. 



The Allium fistulosum, or Welsh Onion, is cultivated for 

 spring salad ; it forms no bulbs, but is very hardy. If the seed 

 be sown early in September in rich ground, although the tops 

 may die down in the winter, yet the roots in mild climates will 

 continue sound, and put up new leaves early in the spring. 



The Allium cepa, or common White and Red Onions, are 

 most generally cultivated by market gardeners as a substitut 

 for the Allium fistulosum. They sow the seed in the sprin^ 

 and autumn months, the product of which is pulled and sent 

 to the market while young. 



The Allium proliferum, or Tree Onion, is propagated by 



