86 VEGECULTURE 



I have mentioned, even where conditions appear to be pro- 

 hibitive and hopeless ; and yet again there is the sowing of seed 

 to produce salad or " Spring " Onions, which may be practised 

 in otherwise unfavourable circumstances. In fact, the growing 

 of immature salad Onions is of the easiest description, and may 

 be confidently undertaken by the most adversely-circumstanced 

 gardener, provided he bestows attention upon the maintenance 

 of a congenial soil (a loose, moist medium is the best for this 

 purpose) in which the plants may make quick progress an 

 essential to the creation of mild and tender qualities. One 

 may say, too, that the method of planting old sprouting Onions 

 cannot be surpassed in the effort to produce a mild and succulent 

 salad or flavouring Onion, the resultant " scallions," as the 

 divisions are called, being all that could be desired in this 

 direction. The sets may be planted anywhere, close together, 

 and should be kept well moist ; while seeds of the salad varieties 

 White Lisbon, White Spanish, etc. may be sown fairly 

 thickly between rows of long-standing vegetables, and can be 

 gathered for use from the time they attain three or four inches 

 in height. Both methods produce usable specimens in a month 

 or six weeks under the most favourable conditions, and in any 

 case the period of waiting for results is very short. Taking 

 these facts into consideration, the question is evolved : Why 

 are not salad Onions grown in every garden ; or at least to many 

 times the extent of the usual practice ? 



But there is the more serious and exacting side to Onion 

 culture the production of sound, useful bulbs for household 

 purposes ; and it is to this side of the question that the answer 

 " No " often emphatically applies. 



First of all, a modification occurs in the case of the small 

 pickling Onion. These can be grown on the poorest of soil, 

 and as size is not a consideration, seed ma3' be thickly sown, and 

 the resulting plants left much to themselves, beyond an occa- 

 sional weeding. 



Where a really first-class Onion for culinary or other house- 

 hold purposes is required, however, strenuous cultivation is 

 decidedly imperative. This style of Onion does not necessarily 

 imply great dimensions. I fail to see the domestic utility of 

 an enormous bulb, which cannot possibly be all used at the 

 one cooking operation, and is, moreover, of a flabby constitu- 

 tion. A large Onion is excellent for show purposes, but very 

 inconvenient to the cook. It is preferable, therefore, to aim at 

 a reasonable size combined with sound keeping qualities and 



