294 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[April 7, 



like to know what you would say upon such an I " Yes," said Tom, " eight ducks and fowls are 

 occasion." more than you bargained tor, old ffUow— worth 



" Why, Sir," said Tom, " if 1 were in your' rather more I suspect than seven shillings — eh? 

 place, under all the circumstances, 1 should say, " Why, yes," said the man, scratching his 

 i am convinced, Mr Sheridan, you do not mean ' head—" [ think Ihey be, but what do I care tor 

 to annoy me, and as you look a good deal tired, \ that— (Api/ are none nf ihem mine '" 

 perhaps you'll come up to my house and take) " Here," said Tom, '• 1 was 



lor once in my 



in a hole, or more if there be any danger of their 

 not coming up well, and buried an inch under 

 the surface. This is allowed by the experienced 

 cultivators in Connecticut, to be the best way of 

 setting the seeds. For they will grow very well 

 in bunches. I have lately found that they grow 

 full as well in drill rows a foot asunder. Ti:ey 



pertiaps y — .. _r •- — ., , . i 1 1 i- — " -' 



some lefreshment ?" life beaten, and made ofl as last as I could, (rom | p^owd each other up out of the soil, and lie i ii 



The Squire was bit hard by this nonchalance, I fear the right owner of my game m'ght tnake | i,gaps as they grow upon the surtace. Though 

 and felt himself compelled to take Tom's sug " ' ' ' ' '' " '- 



gestion. 



" So far," said Tom, " the story tells /or rae. 

 You shall hear the sequel." 



Alter having regaled himself at llie Squire's 

 house, and having said live hundred more good 

 things than he swallowed; having delighted his 

 host, and more than half won the hearts ot his 

 wife and daughters, the sportsman proceeded 

 on his return homewards. 



In the course of his walk, he passed through 

 3 farm-yard; in Ihe front of the farm-house was 



his appearance — not but that 1 could have giv- j j|,g largest onions are those that grow singly, 

 en the fellow that took me in seven times as | g^^g jn^^gg apart, those tliat are more crowded 

 much as 1 did for his cunning and coolness." | pf^juce larger crops. And the middle sized on- 



__^_^_^^— ^— .^^^ ^^^ better for eating than the largest." 



"The last week in April is the right season 

 for sowing the seeds, if the ground be capable of 

 being got into proper order so early. In wet 



BY THE EDITOR. 



ONIONS. 



We have already in (he 3d volume of the N. 



E. Farmer, pages 89, 138, 249, published val-l ground it is often necessary to sow them later.'- 

 uable articles, ^on the culture of this vesjelaMe. } " Last year I sowed my onions in drills, twelve 

 in one of the papers alluded to (page" 138 of inches apart, across the beds: and I found my 

 said volume) with the signature '• Cultivator;" I crop was near double to what it used to be,when 

 It is slated, in substance, that a person was able thoy were sown in bunches. Perhaps this will 

 a green, in the centre of which was a pond — | [^^ persevering to sow onioas for 8 or 9 years; prove to be the better method. But I gave them 

 in the pond were ducks innumerable, swimming I j^^ ,|jg ^.^^^ ^j^p;^^ ,q ^.^^^^ f,,,^ ^^^^^^ where at al?o a slight top dressing of soot, just before they 

 and diving; on its verd.inl banks, a niolley i j^^.^j Ij^p p^U ^i^j be produced of a tolerable j becan to form bvdbs, which might be the true 

 frroup of gallant cocks and pert |KUllets, P'ck jgj^g^ quanlity, or quality. Dr Deane likewise I reason of the great increase; So that I dare not 



' " " "vet absolutely prefer the drill method to the oth- 



jng and feeding— the larmer was leaning over ; ^j,gg^ypj ;. ," have for many years cultivated on 

 the hatch of the barn, which stood near two -..^^ „„ the same spot; and have never found 

 codagps on ihe side (if the green. I the land at all impoverished by them. But on 



Tom hated to go back with an empty bag; and . ^^^^ cor.lrary, my crops are better than former- 

 Laving failed in his attempts at higher game, j ,,,_ p„i ,he manuring is yearly repeated; and 

 it struck him as a good joke to ridicule the ex-i ^„,, „„, ,,e laid far below" the surface." 



jiloits of' the day him«ell, in order to prevent 

 f\ny one else trom doing it fur him, and he 

 thought that to carry home a certain Dumber of 

 the domestic inhabitants of the pond, and its 

 vicinity, would serve the purpose admirably. — 

 Accordingly, up he goes to the farmer, and ac- 

 costs him very civilly — 



. "My g'ood friend" says Tom, ''I'll make you 

 an ofl'er— " 



"Of what, Z'lr ?" says (he farmer. 



"Whv." replies Tom, " I have been out all 



In Anderson's Essays is the tolloiving passage, 



" At Dunstafifnage, in Argyleshirc, Scotland, 



which is a mountainous country, and na(urally 



a barren soil, a small garden was pointed ou( (o 



me, on which was growing a( (he (ime one of 



(he finest crops of onions 1 had ever seen, i 



took notice of it with some degree ot surprise, 



because I had seen no other crop of onions in 



that disirict that was tolerable ; but my surprise 



was a ijood deal augmented on being (old ihal 



(he |)Tesen( crop was by no means remarkable ; 



day (as-jing afier birds, and haven't had a shot': ,(,,,, ,( h^d been cropped with onions from lime 



—now, both my barrels are loaded— I should ' in,,^,p„iorial ; (ha( the present owner of i( who 



l:ke to take homo something; wha( shall I gi\e; „,,j ., „,;,„ above eighty years of age, had never 



you to let me have a shot with each barrel at jp^n .^^,y „|hpr crop than onions upon that 



those ducks and fowls — / standing here— and to ^pn„n,| . „„() ,h:,i (be oldest person alive, when 



have whatever 1 kill ?" '. he was a bov, had (old him (he same (liing, and 



" What sort of shot are yoti?" said the (arm-;,i,;,t the crop was always an excellent one. — 



*''"• ^ . Dunstartnagp was a rr.yal palace belonging (c 



" Fairish !" said Tom, " Fairish '." _ j the kin^s of ScoiUind a( an early period of (heir 



" And to /((/re all you kill?" said (he tarmer hislorv, almost beyond rerord, and there can be 



— "eb?', 



" F.xactiv so " said Tom. 



Haifa guinea,'' said the farmer. 



" That's too much." said Torn— " I'll tell you ' i.ly several hundred years more. I question 

 what ni do — I'll give you a seven shilling i much if (his soil could have been rendered ca- 

 pic'ce, which bippens to be all (he money 1 pable of producing successive crops of such fine 



et ; though I am much inclined to give it a de- 

 cided preference. 



" Onions should be hoed three or four times, 

 md kept quite clear of weeds, before the tops 

 arrive to their full height. At this time the bulbs 

 will begin to swell ; hoeing should therefore be 

 laid aside, and the weeds pulled up by hand as 

 often as they appear. Weeds not only rob the 

 plants of their food, but injure them much with 

 their shade ; for they have occasion for all the 

 warmth of the sun that they can get." 



" To promote the growth of the bulbous roots, 

 I have found it advantageous to trample the 

 ground hard between the rows or bunches, and 

 to draw the soil away from the bulbous roots, 

 laying them bare to the sun. They are the more 

 warmed and grow faster." 



" Some think it proper, and even necessary, 

 to pass a roller over beds of onions, or cripple 

 down their tops by hand. But I have never 

 been able to find the least advantage from either 

 of these methods ; nor do 1 think they ought to 

 be practised ; for I cannot easily conceive how 

 the crushing and wounding any plant, while in 

 its growing, should conduce to its improvement. 

 Though some may have good crops, who treat 

 tile room to doubt (hat this garden was brought , them in this manner, I am persuaded that if they 



under cultivation at (hiit time, so that it canno( neglected it, they would liave much better crops. 



be less than five hundred years old, and proba- For, besides the mischief already mentioned, the 



.sun is shut out from the bulbs by crushing the 



liave in my pocket 

 " Well,'"' said the 



man, " hand it over." 



onions lor a great many years aticr it was first 

 turned up from the waste by any device that 



The payment was made :— Tom true to his '(he ingenuity of man could have suggested, 

 bargain, look his post by (he barn door, and le( Deane's New l>Tland Farmer says, " The 

 fly with one barrel and then with the other, and mnimon sort of onions liave purple bulbs. The 

 such quacking and spla-hitig, and screaming, and white or siK er skinned, which are supposed (o 

 sphitleriiig, had never been seen in that place ; have come from Fgypt, are by some preferred 



to the other. Thry have nf I so strong a taste. 



before. 



Away ran Tom, and, delifjhied at bis success, 

 picked up first a hen, and then a chicken, then 



" Tlie ground should be dug or ploughed in 

 autumn, not vi'ry deep ; and then made very 



hshed out a dyinsi; duck or two, and so on, until i fine ji, the spring, and all the grass roots, and 

 he had numbered eight head of domestic game, i roots of weeds, taken out ; then laid in bods four 

 with which his b,.^ was nobly distended. - i feet wide. Four rows of holes are made in a 

 "I hose were right good shots, iiur," said i bed the rows ten inches apart, and the holes in 

 the (anner. j the rows ten. About half a dozen seeds are put 



tops down upon them ; but the more upright the 

 tops are, the more the sun will shine upon the 

 roots. I would sooner cut off pait of the tops 

 than go to criisliing them." 



"Others shake and twist the tops, to loosen 

 the bulbs in the soil, which I cannot approve of; 

 for if it does not snap ofl" some of tlic fibrous roots, 

 it gives too free a passage of the air to them, by 

 which, if dry weather follow, tlu'y will be injur- 

 ed, rather than assisted in their growth." 



"When onions are thick necked, do not in- 

 cline to the bottom, but rather to be wliat arc 

 vulgarly called scullions, tlie more care should be 

 taken to harden the jjround about them, and to 

 lay the bulbs bare to the sun An<l it iiiav be 

 proper to let them touch the soil only in that 

 part which sends out the fibrous roots." 



