ONION 85 



or it will prevent the ripening of the bulbs, and if a sign is wanted 

 the growth will afford it, for from the time the bulbs have attained to 

 a reasonable size the water will do more harm than good. 



The harvesting of the crop requires as much care as the growing 

 of it. If all goes well, the bulbs will ripen naturally, and being 

 drawn and dried on the ground for a few days with their roots looking 

 southward, may be gathered up and topped and tailed and bunched 

 as may be most convenient. But there may be a little hesitation of 

 the plant in respect of finishing its growth, the result, perhaps, of 

 cool moist weather, when dry hot weather would be better. In this 

 case the growth may be checked by passing a rod (as the handle of 

 a rake, for example) over the bed to bend down the tops. After this 

 the tops will turn yellow, and the necks will shrink, and advantage must 

 be taken of fine weather to draw the Onions and lay them out to dry. 

 A gravel path or a dry shed fully open to the sun will ripen them 

 more completely than the bed they have been grown on ; but where 

 large pieces of Onions are grown they must be ripened where they 

 grew, and experience teaches when they may be drawn with safety. 



As to keeping Onions, any dry, cool, airy place will answer. But 

 if a difficulty arises there is an easy way out of it, for Onions may 

 be hung in bunches on an open wall under the shelter of the eaves 

 of any building, and thus the outsides of barns and stables and cot- 

 tages may be converted into Onion stores, leaving the inside free 

 for things that are less able to take care of themselves. During 

 severe frost they must be taken down and piled up anywhere in a 

 safe place, but may be put on their hooks again when the weather 

 softens, for a slight frost will not harm them in the least, and the 

 wall will keep them comparatively warm and dry. When the best 

 part of the crop has been bunched or roped, the remainder may be 

 thrown into a heap in a cool dry shed, and a few mats may be put 

 over them, and in this way they will keep without sprouting for at 

 least three months. But damp will start them into growth, and the 

 only way to save them then is to top and tail them again, and store 

 as dry as possible in smallish parcels. 



To GROW LARGE ONIONS the same principles must be observed 

 as already set forth, but the cultivator must give the plant more space 

 and more time. One mode of enlarging the time is to sow seeds of 

 the large-growing kinds in autumn and transplant them in spring to 

 beds of rich soil, prepared as described for the sowing of spring seeds. 

 The rows should be fifteen inches apart, and the bulbs nine inches 

 in the row. The work should be done by drawing deep drills, into 



