CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 147 



When the plants are two or three inches high, thin them to four or five 

 inches apart. Or make the drills about ten inches apart, each way, and drop 

 six or eight seeds, where the drills intersect each other. Though the largest 

 onions are those that grow singly, some inches apart, those that are more 

 crowded produce larger crops. A small quantity of ashes and sand spread over 

 the ground after planting, is useful. Keep the ground clear of weeds by hoeing 

 andVeeding, but do not hoe deep, nor raise earth about the plants. They should 

 be hoed three or four times before the tops have arrived at their full height. 

 After the bulbs begin to swell, hoeing must be discontinued. It is said to be 

 very useful, to apply soot and ashes when the bulbs begin to form. Some are 

 in the practice of beating down the tops, after the roots have attained consider- 

 able size, for the purpose of making the latter grow the faster; but the prac- 

 tice is no doubt injurious. When the stalks shrivel and fall spontaneously, 

 they have ceased to grow, and should then be pulled up and laid on the ground 

 some days to dry and harden. If the weather should prove moist, they must 

 be turned, or they will strike new roofs and grow. When sufficiently dry, cut 

 off the tops, carry them in and spread them thin over the floor; here let them 

 remain until the commencement of cold weather, then put them into a box or 

 cask with alternate layers of dry chart or tine straw, and set them in a place 

 where they will not freeze. A little frost, however, will not essentially injure 

 them, unless they are moved while frozen; but it is better to keen them iu a 

 temperature a little above the frre/ing point. Tho-e which an. 1 shipped from 

 New England, are usually tied up in wi.-ps of straw, and if they be hung up in 

 this way they will perhaps keep longer than anyother. If they incline Id sprout, 

 sear the roots with a hot iron, which will stop their :'rwth. Tho>e which have 

 thick necks and the bulbous part small, may be left in the ground during win- 

 ter. Many of them will stand the frost, and in the spring may lie taken up anil 

 set in a bed, where they will glow to be good onions. At all events, ti 

 good for nothing, without a second year's growth; and mu>t not be mixed with 

 good onions, lest tin in. to rot. 



To obtain seeds from onions, plant them very early in the spring in be.!-, 

 about nine inches apart. Take the largest and soundest for this jmrpo 

 keep them clear of weeds while growing. When they come to head, ti' 1 them 

 loosely to stakes drove down \'~>v that purpose; otherwise they will fall to the 

 ground, and then the seeds will not come to perfection. In a garden there 

 alwavs ou.u'ht to be a crop to succeed seed onions. ( >nions are not an exhaust- 

 ing crop; and they may he constantly rai-.r,l on the same ground. 



To cultiri.' 1 "i " large scale, the ground should be perfectly clear of 



stones; and if it contain the seed of wee ii.mhl be first eradicated by a 



hoed crop. The ploughings, for preparing the land, in the first instance, need 

 not be deeper than three or lour inches. If the ground be suitably mellow, any 

 further ploughing, fur su'-c<v>!in^ ITOJIS, will be unnecessary: all that will be, 

 found requisite will be, to re-mellow the ground as deeply and effectually as it 

 can be done by a heavy iron-toothed harrow, having the teeth well pointed, 

 and turning forward, so as to run about two inches deep. But, where the 

 ground is not of the mellow kind, it should be prepared as at first. Whatever 

 manure is applied, should be very finely rotted, clear of the seed of weeds, and 

 well mixed with the soil bv the harrow. After the surface is finely pulverized, 

 it should be rolled, and then it is fit for the reception of seed. 



The sowing should be as earlv as the ground can be completely prepared. 

 The seeds should be drilled in, in rows about ten or twelve inches'apart, by a 

 small hand-drill plough. This machine mav be made to drill in two rows at 

 once. The seed should be drilled in pretty thickly, for fear they may not all 

 vegetate. If the plants are too thick, they must be thinned by hand, when the 

 first weeding commences. This is the most laborious operation in the whole 

 process of raising this root, as well as some others; but here we propose another 

 labour-saving implement, in the shape of a small hand-weeding plough. Every 

 part of the interval between the rows should be cut with this plough; after which 

 it would probably be found requisite to use a small narrow iron-toothed rake, 

 for the purpose of completely separating the roots of the weeds from the soil. 

 After this, the cleansing of the rows of the weeds, which the plough could not 

 touch, must be performed by hand. When the weeds begin to rise again, this 



