KITCHEN GARDEN. 189 



elements (oil and sulphur) which give to the com- 

 mon onion its peculiar taste and smell. Light and 

 frequent waterings have the effect of diminishing 

 this odour.* 



A rich moist sand is the soil most favourable to 

 the onion ; and " when to this," says Bosc, " we 

 can add a long and hot summer, their development 

 is prodigious. I have seen them a foot in diameter, 

 and have heard of others which were larger. But 

 itjj to the south of France, to Sicily, to the isles of 

 Greece, and particularly to Egypt, where we must 

 go to see the onion in its most improved state." 

 In clay or stony soils, or pure sand, the onion does 

 not prosper ; it becomes small and acrid, and expe- 

 rience shows that fermenting or half-rotted dung is 

 by no means favourable to it. 



It is propagated either by the seed or by the 

 bulbs, f In the first case you sow in shallow drills, 

 twelve or fourteen inches apart, cover with mould, 

 and when the plants come up, thin them, so that 

 they may stand three or four inches from each oth- 

 er. The sooner this is done in the spring after the 

 earth has acquired a temperature favourable to ve- 

 getation, the better will be your crop. It only re- 

 mains to keep the earth loose and clean about the 

 roots, and, if the vegetation be too vigorous, to 

 break down the tops, so as to determine the juices 

 to the bulbs. In the other case you employ the 

 small and half-grown onion of the preceding fall/ 

 instead of seed. In this consists all the difference 

 of the two modes. The Canadense variety is, we 

 believe, always managed in this way. 



To preserve onions, of whatever variety, through 

 the winter, they are best formed into ropes (tied to 

 each other), and kept in a dry and moderately warm 



* Cours d'Agriculture. 



t The Tartars propagate them by cutting. They slit the bulb 

 downward, and leave to each cutting a portion of the fibrous 

 roots. Cours d'Agriculture. 



