92 



THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



OmOHS AND HOW TO RAISE THEM. 



Tire onion (Allium cepa) is a vegetable deserving 

 «jf more extensive culture than is generally the case 

 here. Its use, when young, in salads, and when 

 mature, in soups and stews, is eminently conducive 

 to health. It requires rich, loamy soil, well manured 

 (for which purpose hen dung or guano is best), and 

 pulverized. The subsoil must not be retentive of 

 moisture. 



There are many varieties of onion in cultivation, 

 and it may perhaps be thought invidious to recom- 

 mend one kind in preference to another. As a 

 general rule, the large onions are the mildest 

 flavored, and the small ones the most pungent. 

 Among the best seed kinds are the yellow Portugal, 

 red Tripoli, and Strasburgh. In selecting seed, 

 great care must be taken that it is the growth 

 of the preceding summer, as seed more than a 

 year old does not germinate well. A good plan to 

 insure this, is for the cultivator to select the 

 soundest and best onions of those kinds he wishes 

 to raise seed from, and plant them in the month of 

 *May, each kind in a separate spot in the garden. 

 They will produce an abundant supply of seed, 

 which will ripen before the autumn frosts. 



The earliest sown onions always prove the best 

 in quality and productiveness: so land intended for 

 their culture is best to be well prepared in the fall, 



and the seed sown in drills as early in the spring as 

 the land can be properly worked. The distance 

 between the drills varies according to the kind of 

 onion, but for field culture, they should be far 

 enough apart to give room for an occasional horse- 

 hoeing, in which case, about six lbs. of seed will 

 sow an acre. After sowing, tread or roll the drills. 



After the plants are well up, they may be hand- 

 hoed and thinned out to an inch or two apart. In 

 another month, they will require thinning again, 

 which may be done as occasion serves, and the 

 young onions put up in bunches and sent to market 

 to be sold for salads. At the final thinning, they 

 should stand six inches apart in the rows. Keep 

 the ground clean of grass and weeds, either by hand 

 or horsehoe. In either case, care must be taken 

 to keep the loosened earth away from the bulbs, as 

 the more they are upon the surface the larger 

 they will grow. 



In some parts of the country, they are subject 

 to the ravages of the larvas of the onion-fly. If 

 they have attacked the crop, it becomes a diflicult 

 matter to get rid of them. Various remedies have 

 been tried, but there is nothing so effectual as to pull 

 up every onion containing a grub and burn it. 



As .««oon as the early autumn frosts appear, it is 

 time to gather the crop. Let tlie onions be pulled 

 by hand, and, the tops being removed, they are 

 spread out to dry, either iu the sun or on the floor 

 of some outbuilding. When thorouglily dried, 

 they may either be stored in the cellar or kitchen 

 loft, giving them an occasional turning; or hung 

 up in nets. 



THE TOMPKINS COUNTY KING APPLE. 



Eds. Genesee Fahmer : — I have seen this apple 

 for the first time this wintei-, in the Boston market. 

 They were large to very large, somewhat resem- 

 bling the Spy, but ratlier higher colored. The 

 quality I regard as best — a little inferior to the 

 Baldwin. It appears to be a fruit which ripens up 

 well, better than the Spy, to which it seems some- 

 what allied. As an export apple, I should think it 

 inferior to the Baldwin, on account of its tender- 

 ness. When grown in New England, however, the 

 probability is that it will become firmer at tlie 

 expense of size, but not inferior in quality. Time, 

 only, can show. These apples were offered for sale 

 at from $3 to $3,25 per barrel — very cheap for so 

 a nice fruit; but good apples must be well known 

 to bring a good price. 



It is not to be expected that we shall very soon 

 discover an apple so worthy of general cultivation 

 as the world-renowqed Baldwin, but those that tiall 

 a little below it should n'ot be neglected. This, 

 with the Husset and Greeniyig, the Euhhardston 

 Nonsuch, and the Sunt Russet, are our popular 

 and reliable winter apples. d, w. l. 



Weet Medford, Mass. 



