252 



Cultivation of Onions. 



Vol. XII. 



mittinw the weeds to remain unnoticed one 

 week too long. This is especially true when 

 there has been a want of due care in pre- 

 venting the scattering' of the seeds of the 

 weeds on the land in the years preceding. 

 Care should be taken, both that no weeds 

 shall ripen their seed upon the land, and 

 that no weed seed shall be found in the ma- 

 nure. In this respect, warm stable manure, 

 musele-bed, and aslies, have a decided supe- 

 riority over all other manures. Perhaps 

 there is no plant more liable to be injured 

 by weeds than the onion. The fibres it 

 sends out are very numerous, minute and 

 tender; any fracture of any of these neces- 

 sarily impairs the perfection of the plant. 

 When the land is in the proper condition, two 

 careful weedings are all that may be neces- 

 sary. The rest of the stirring of the ground 

 that maybe required to promote the growth, 

 can be done with the onion hoe. The dis- 

 tance between the rows can be varied ac- 

 cording to the quality and condition of the 

 soil. Keeping the ground well stirred, 

 Joose, and free of weeds, greatly facilitates 

 the bottoming of the onion. There is no 

 plant that will better reward diligent caro 

 in the cultivation. The entire difference 

 between a bountiful crop and no crop at all, 

 often depends on this. The old maxim, "a 

 6titch in time saves nine," applies with great 

 force in raising onions. 



5. The blights and injuries (o which the 

 crop may be subject. 



So far as we have observed, this crop is 

 as certain as any other that is cultivated. 

 We know that onions will not grow without 

 a reasonable proportion of heat and moist- 

 ure; but we have rarely, if ever known, an 

 entire failure of the crop, where due dili- 

 gence has been used. There are occasion- 

 ally blights, the causes of which we have 

 not learned. The more prominent will be 

 noticed. 



Sometimes we have seen the plant co- 

 vered with a small insect or louse, that gives: 

 the top a while or light coloured aspect, and 

 stops and stints the growth. These make 

 their appearance about the time the bottom- 

 ing commences. We have heard their ap- 

 pearance charged to the use of muscle-bed ; 

 but whether they are limited to land on 

 which musele-bed has been used, we cannot 

 eay. We think not We think they are 

 natural associates of the plant. The effect 

 of tliem is to diminish the qitantily, but not 

 materially injure the quality of the vege- 

 table. 



The crop is sometimes injured by a blue 

 mould that gathers on the tops, occasioned 

 by fogs, or an excess of moisture from fre- 

 quent and long continued rains. 



There is a worm or maggot, occasionally 

 found upon the onion plant, in the early 

 stages of its growth, causing it to turn yel- 

 low and die. This insect will be found in 

 the bnlb, originating from eggs laid upon 

 the leaves, by a small ash coloured fly, the 

 scientific name of which is said to be Antho- 

 myia ceparum, — see Transactions of the 

 N. Y. State Agricultural Society for 1843, 

 page 1.35. It comes to maturity in less than 

 a month ; so that there may be several gen- 

 erations in the course of the season. Their 

 appearance in this vicinity is rare. Pulver- 

 ized charcoal and fire have been found the 

 most effectual remedies, against the ravages 

 of this class of depredators. 



The most annoying enemy of the onion is 

 the cut worm or grub worm. It probably 

 is the same described by Dr. Harris, in his 

 report on the Insects of Mass. injurious to 

 vegetation, p. 324, there called '' Agrotis 

 devastntor." And in the 1st vol. of Silli- 

 man's Journal of Science, ^^ Phalcsna noctua 

 devastator ;^^ though Dr. Harris does not 

 mention the onio7i as among the plants upon 

 which it feeds; probably considering it like 

 Inbacco, as too noisome to be used by any 

 decently civilized being. They are said 

 " to seek their food in the night, or in 

 cloudy weather, and retire before sunrise 

 into the ground, or beneath stones, or any 

 substance which can shelter them from the 

 rays of the sun ; here they remain coiled up 

 during the day, except while devouring their 

 food, which they drag into their places of 

 concealment." The remedy for these worms, 

 suggested by our cultivators, corresponds 

 nearly with that proposed by Mr. Foote, of 

 Berkshire, " to catch them and pull their 

 teeth out.'''' This being effectually done to 

 ail, their operations will be of a limited cha- 

 racter. When this is omitted, we have 

 sometimes known whole fields almost en- 

 tirely cut down by these rapacious devoiir- 

 ers. Tey sweep clean where they go, not 

 suffering even the weeds or any other herb- 

 age to flourish. They are more frequently 

 found on old ground than on neto; and par- 

 ticularly where the ground has been covered 

 during the winter with chichweed or other 

 vegetable substance, on which the eggs from 

 which they originate may have been depos- 

 ited. Hence a benefitof clearing the ground 

 of all vegetable matter or other obstructions 

 in the autumn, after the crop is gathered. 

 This clearing also facilitates the early plant- 

 ing in the spring. Autumnal plougliing, as 

 it exposes the soil more fully to the action 

 of the frost, and disarranges all abodes for 

 the winter made by insects, may have a 

 tendency to diminish their number. 



6. The time and manner of harvesting. 



