"226 



ONIONS. 



gin to form. Some are in the practice of beating down 

 the tops, after the roots have attained considerable 

 size, for the purpose of making the latter grow the faster; 

 but the practice is no doubt injurious. When the stalks 

 shrivel and fall spontaneously, the;f 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 roots and grow. When sufficiently dry, cut 

 oif the tops, carry them in and spread them thin over 

 the floor ; here let them remain until the commence- 

 ment of cold weather, then put them into a box or cask 

 with alternate layers of dry chaff or fine 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 keep 

 them in a temperature a little above the t>eezing point. 

 Those which are shipped from New-England, are usual- 

 ly tied up in wi<5ps of straw, and if they be hung up in 

 this way they will perhaps keep longer than any other. 

 If they incline to sprout, sear the roots with a hot iron, 

 which will slop their growth. Those which have thick 

 necks and the bulbous part small, may be left in the 

 ground during winter : Many of them will stand the frost, 

 and in the spring may be taken up and set in a bed 

 where they will grow to be good onions. At all events, 

 they are good for nothing, without a second year's 

 growth ; and must not be mixed with good onions lest 

 they cause them to rot. 



To obtain seed from onions, plant them very early in 

 the spring in bed.-^, about 9 inches apart. Take the 

 largest and soundest for this purpose, and keep them 

 clear of weeds while ijrowing. When they have come 

 to head, tie them loosel}? to stakes drove down for that 

 purpose ; otherwise they will fall to the ground, and 

 then the seeds will not come to perfection. In a garden 

 there always ought to be a crop to succeed seed onions. 

 Onions are not an exhausting crop ; and they may be 

 constantly nised on the same ground. 



Field Culture of Onions. Haviog omitted to speak of 

 the field culture of this valuable root in the foregoing 

 part of this work, we proceed to make some selection^, 



