ONIONS. 189 



serves, is supposed to render the " salutary sorts 

 less so, and to make the unwholesome kinds more 

 acrimonious. Hence it would appear that the 

 scientific produce is not absolutely safe, but may in 

 certain cases be as dangerous as that which is 

 gathered from the stumps of old trees or from under 

 a hedge. 



Onions Is the most precious crop of the gar- 

 den, and precious just because the highest cultiva- 

 tion is requisite for the attainment of the highest 

 produce ; and more art being necessary, there are 

 more failures, which serve to enhance the price. 

 It is needless to attend to all the varieties of the 

 onion. The cultivator who depends on new sorts 

 is like the invalid who is always changing his medi- 

 cines, but who had much better apply with more 

 exactness the common and well known rules of 

 health. One sort of onion differs far less from 

 another than the degree of skill in different hands, 

 or the degree of quality in different soils. The 

 best sort for keeping is the Strasburgh, and for a 

 large crop the white Spanish ; the silver-skinned 

 is beautiful, and the dwarf-grown of that sort are 

 the handsomest for pickles. The soil cannot be 

 too light if it be rich with old manure, incorpora- 

 ted by digging about the end of autumn. It is of 



t' OO O 



advantage in the course of winter, after the manure 

 has become amalgamated with the soil, to ridge up 

 the earth like potato drills, which, by pulverizing 

 and drying, prepares for early sowing. As the 

 seed may be ill ripened, or mixed with what is too 



