ONI 



OMI 



OMNIVORES, OMNIVOROUS. 

 Ealing animal and vegetable food. 



OMPIIALODIUM. The point in 

 the hilum or scar of a seed through 

 which the nutritions vessels pass. 



ONION. AlHum ccpa. The fol- 

 lowing article is chiefly from Mr. 

 Bridgeman : " Vanelics. — New-Eng- 

 land white, large red, yellow or sil- 

 ver-skinned, yellow Dutch, Stras- 

 burgh or Flanders, Madeira. 



" Of the several varieties of on- 

 ions, the yellow or silver-skinned and 

 large red are the best for a general 

 crop. The bulbs are handsome, of 

 firm growth, and keep well through 

 the winter. The New-England white 

 are handsome for the table, and very 

 suitable for pickling, as well as to pull 

 while young, and generally prove a 

 very profitable crop. 



"Previous to sowing onion seed 

 for a general crop, the ground should 

 be well prepared by digging in some 

 of the oldest and strongest manure 

 that can be got. The earlier this be 

 done in the spring, the better ; and 

 the planting should not be delayed 

 longer than the middle of April. The 

 seed maybe sowed moderately thick, 

 in drills one inch deep and twelve 

 inches apart, in April or May. 



" Those who cultivate onions for 

 the sake of their bulbs may use at 

 the rate of four or five pounds of 

 seed per acre. 



" As market gardeners, in the vi- 

 cinity of large cities, find it most 

 profitable to pull a great proportion 

 of their onions while young, they gen- 

 erally require at the rate of from eight 

 to ten pounds of seed to an acre of 

 land. 



" When the plants are up strong, 

 they should be hoed. Those beds 

 that are to stand for ripening should 

 be thinned out while young, to the 

 distance of two or three inches from 

 each other. If a few should be re- 

 quired for use after this, those can 

 be taken which incline more to tops 

 than roots ; and if the beds be fre- 

 quently looked over, and the small 

 and stalky plants taken away where 

 they stand thickest, the remaining 

 bulbs will grow to a larger size. 

 534 



The plants should be hoed at least 

 three times in the early part of their 

 growth ; but if the season prove 

 damp, and weeds vegetate luxuri- 

 antly, they must be removed by the 

 hand ; because, after the onions have 

 begun to bulb, it would injure them 

 to stir them with a hoe. 



" When the greenness is gone out 

 of the tops of onions it is time to 

 take them up, for from this time the 

 fibrous roots decay. After they are 

 pulled they should be laid out to dry, 

 and when dry, removed to a place of 

 shelter." 



The crop is put up into ropes of 

 three and a half pounds, and a fair 

 crop is from 6000 to 8000 such ropes. 



" The small onions may be planted 

 in the following spring. Even an 

 onion which is partly rotten will pro- 

 duce good bulbs, if the seed stems be 

 taken off as soon as they appear." 



The admirable Portuguese onions 

 are only raised in perfection near the 

 seashore, in places moistened by the 

 tide ; hence moisture and a little salt 

 should be secured to the growing 

 plants. 



" The Allium fistulosum, Welsh on- 

 ion, or Ciboule, is cultivated for 

 spring salad ; it forms no bulbs, but 

 is very hardy. If the seed be sowed 

 early in September, in rich ground, 

 although the tops may die down in 

 the winter, yet the roots will continue 

 sound, and put up new leaves early 

 in the spring. 



" The Allium cepa, or common 

 white and red onions, are most gen- 

 erally cultivated by market garden- 

 ers, as a substitute for the Allium 

 fistulosum. They sow the seed in 

 the spring and autumn months ; the 

 product of which is pulled and sent 

 to the market while young, and gen- 

 erally meets with a ready sale. 



" The Allium proliferum, or tree 

 onion, is propagated by planting the 

 bulbs in spring or autumn — either the 

 root bulbs or those produced on the 

 top of the stalks ; the latter, if plant- 

 ed in the spring, will produce fine 

 onions. These may be planted in 

 rows with a dibble, the same as 

 shallots. 



