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The different flowering kinds may be propa- 

 gated very readily by offsets, which may be se- 

 parated any time after the decay of the flowers, 

 taking only such as are lar^e and fine, planting 

 them at once in the borders or other places 

 whjre they are to remain, and where they will 

 flower in the following summer. 



When the plants arc propagated by seed, the 

 best method of accomplishing it is in a shady bor- 

 der in the spring, the plants being ready for trans- 

 planting in such cases in the autumn following. 

 Some of the sorts may be employed in the way of 

 ornament, and for the purpose of variety in ex- 

 tensive gardens and pleasure grounds. For this 

 use the three last species will be the most proper, 

 though several of the others may sometimes be 

 had recourse to. 



Culture in the Onion hind. — In all these kinds 

 the propagation is effected by seed, which should 

 be sown annually at different times, according 

 to the season at which the crop is wanted; but 

 for the general crop it should always be per- 

 formed from about the twentieth of January until 

 the beginning of March, though in cold wet stiff 

 soils it may be proper to defer sowing entirely 

 until towards the middle of the last of these 

 months. About the middle of February may 

 however in general be the most proper, from the 

 season being more favourable to the vegetation 

 of small seeds. In case the sowing has been 

 omitted at the times recommended above, it may 

 often be performed with tolerable success in the 

 beginning, or any time before the middle of 

 April ; but the crops of the February or March 

 sowing always bulb more freely, and acquire a 

 much larger growth than those sown at later 

 periods. 



The most suitable situation for crops of this 

 kind is an open exposure, where the soil is of the 

 loamy kind; moderately light, mellow, and rich, 

 in good vegetable mould. Thus, spots of the 

 best and most mellow ground in the garden 

 should always be chosen ; and if possible a good 

 coat of well rotted dung or compost be dug well 

 in. but not to too great a depth, the surface be- 

 ing kepi level, and, while it is fresh stirred, well 

 raked, and the seed sown upon it. This is a 

 point which is of much importance to be at- 

 tended to. The sowing should not however be 

 performed when the surface is so wet or moist 

 as to clog to the feet or rake in preparing it. 

 The proper quantity of seed is in general about 

 an ounce to every rod or pole of ground ; but 

 where it is not required to have them thick for 

 cullings, two ounces for three rods may be fully 

 sufficient, as the plants are much weakened and 

 drawn up by standing too thick. Great care 

 should constantly be taken to procure fresh seed, 

 as but very little of that which is kept more 



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than one year will vegetate. It is always the 

 best method for the cultivator to save it himself. 

 The seed may either be sow n over the whole of 

 the piece or plat of ground, or it may first be 

 divided into beds of four, five, or six feet in w idth, 

 allowing foot-wide alleys between them. In sow- 

 ing in the broad-cast method, the seed should, be 

 dispersed over the ground with a regular spreading 

 cast, it being a practice with some to tread the 

 surface over immediately afterwards evenly upon 

 the seed. This however is improper, except where 

 the soil is very light. Where sown in beds, the 

 alleys may be afterwards pared an inch or two 

 deep, and the earth cast over them, directly rak- 

 ing them regularly with an even hand, trimming 

 off all the stones, roots, £cc. They may also be 

 sown with success in drills, at the distance of 

 eight or twelve inches. See Sowing Seeds- 



But the method of sowing them in beds is the 

 most eligible, where it is designed to draw young 

 onions from time ro time for market or family 

 use ; as in such cases a person can stand in the 

 alleys without treading upon the bed? ; which not 

 only renders the surface hard, so as to injure the 

 crop, but is highly detrimental, by trampling 

 upon the plants themselves. They likewise af- 

 ford much convenience for standing in the alleys, 

 in order to weed, thin, and hoe the crops. 



Although it is a common practice in the gene- 

 ral culture of onions- to sow them thick, in order 

 to allow for drawing out the superabundant 

 plants by degrees as they are wanted, it would 

 certainly be a better mode to sow a piece parti- 

 cularly for general culling, exclusive of the main 

 crop, as by daily thinning out the superfluous 

 plants there is no avoiding treading upon,, bruis- 

 ing, disturbing, and loosening the remaining 

 ones, by which they become stinted in their 

 growth, and by no means so fine. 



There is also another very common but inju- 

 dicious practice, which is that of mixing other 

 crops, such as those of the leek, lettuce, radish, 

 and carrot kind, with these crops. This is pro- 

 ductive of much inconvenience and obstruction 

 to the chief crop, without producing any great 

 advantage : nothing should therefore be admitted 

 except a very thin sprinkling of coss-lettuce in 

 some cases. 



In about a fortnight or three, weeks after the 

 seed is sown, the plants generally appear, and in 

 a month after that, as in May and the beginning 

 of June, they will be three or four inches high; 

 when they should be well cleaned from weeds, 

 and the main crop thinned to three or four inches 

 distance. The weeding and thinning should be 

 begun in due time, when the weather is dry, be- 

 fore the weeds branch out and spread much ; 

 which may either be performed by the hand or 

 a small hoe : the latter is the more expeditious 



