64 PRACTICE OF GARDENING PART III. 



3816. Seed and times of sowing. When onions are to be drawn young, two ounces of seed will be re- 

 quisite for a bed four feet by twenty-four ; but when to remain for bulbing, one ounce will suffice for a 

 bed five feet by twenty-four feet 



3817. The course of culture recommended by Abercrombie for the summer, and what he calls winter- 

 laid-by crops, is as follows : " Allot an open compartment, and lay it out in beds from three to five feet in 

 width. Sow broad-cast, equally over the rough surface, moderately thick, bed and bed separately, and 

 rake in the seed lengthwise each bed, in a regular manner. When the plants are three or four inches 

 high, in May and June, let them be timely cleared from weeds, and let the principal crop be thinned, 

 either by hand, or with a small two-inch hoe ; thinning the plants to intervals of from three to five inches 

 in the main crops designed for full bulbing ; or, some beds may remain moderately thick for drawing 

 young, by successive thinnings, to the above distance. For the Spanish, from seed obtained immediately 

 from Spain, the final distance should be six or seven inches. Keep the whole very clear from weeds, in 

 their young and advancing state. The plants will begin bulbing a little in June ; more fully in July ; 

 and be fully grown in August to large bulbs. In July or August, when the leaves begin to dry at the 

 points and turn yellow, lay the stems down close to the ground, bending them about two inches up the 

 neck, which promotes the ripening of the bulb, particularly in wet or backward seasons. The crop of 

 full bulbers will be ready to take up towards the middle of August. When the necks shrink, and the 

 leaves decay, pull them wholly up in due time : spread them on a compartment of dry ground, in the 

 full sun, to dry and harden completely, turning them every two or three days; and in a week or fort- 

 night they will be ready to house. Clear oft' the grossest part of the leaves, stalks, and fibres ; then 

 deposit the bulbs in some close dry apartment, in which sometimes turn them over, and pick out any 

 that decay ; and they will thus keep sound and good, all winter and spring, till May following." 



3818. Transplanting onions. This practice was recommended by Worlidge in his Systema Horticulture, 

 published early in the 17th century, and has lately been revived by Knight, Warre, Macdonald, and 

 others. It may be observed, that it has been practised, for an unknown period, in some of the market- 

 gardens 'near London, known by the name of the " Gardens of the Neat's Houses." Knight observes, 

 that every bulbous-rooted plant, and indeed every plant that lives longer than one year, generates in one 

 season the sap or vegetable blood which composes the leaves and roots of the succeeding spring. " This 

 reserved sap is deposited in, and composes, in a great measure, the bulb ; and the quantity accumulated, 

 as well as the period required for its accumulation, varies greatly in the same species of plant, under . 

 more or less favorable circumstances. Thus the onion, in the south of Europe, acquires a much larger 

 size during the long and warm summers of Spain and Portugal, in a single season, than in the colder cli- 

 mate of England ; but under the following mode of culture, which I have long practised, two summers 

 in England produce nearly the effect of one in Spain or Portugal, and the onion assumes nearly the form 

 and size of those thence imported. Seeds of the Spanish or Portugal onion are sown at the usual period 

 in the spring, very thickly, and in poor soil ; generally under the shade of a fruit-tree ; and in such situ- 

 ations the bulbs, in the autumn, are rarely found much to exceed the size of a large pea. These are 

 then taken from the ground, and preserved till the succeeding spring, when they are planted at equal dis- 

 tances from each other, and they afford plants which differ from those raised immediately from seed, 

 only in possessing much greater strength and vigor, owing to the quantity of previously generated sap 

 being much greater in the bulb than in the seed. The bulbs, thus raised, often exceed considerably five 

 inches in diameter, and being more mature, they are with more certainty, preserved in a state of perfect 

 soundness, through the winter, than those raised from seed in a single season." 



3819. West has tried the above mode, and found it perfectly successful (Hort. Trans, iv. 139.) Brown, of 

 Perth, has practised transplanting onions for upwards of twenty years ; all the difference between his mode 

 and that of Knight and the Neat's Houses' gardeners, is that, instead of sowing under the shade of trees, 

 he picks out all the small onions, from the size of a pea to that of a filbert, from his general crop. If the sown 

 crops fail, he can always trust to the transplanted crop as a reserve. (Neill, in Encyc. Brit. art. Hort.) 



3820. James transplants either autumn-sown onions, or such as are forwarded by a hot-bed in spring, 

 in drills which have been dunged, by which he considers a larger crop may be obtained with less dung than 

 by the broad-cast mode of dunging. (Hort Trans, iv. 130.) 



3821. Warre states that the onion is also transplanted in Portugal, and the general practice is as follows : 

 the seed is sown " very thinly, in November or December, on a moderate hot-bed, in a warm situation, 

 with a few inches of rich light loam upon it, and the plants protected from frost by mats and hoops. In 

 April or May, when they are about the size of a large swan's quill, they are transplanted on a rich light 

 loam, well manured with old rotten dung. The mode of transplanting is particular. The plants are laid 

 flat, about nine inches asunder, each way, in quincunx, the beard of the root, and part only of the plant, 

 lightly covered with very rich mould, well mixed with two thirds of good old rotten dung. This compost 

 is slightly pressed down on the plant ; water is given when the weather is dry, until the plants have taken 

 root. Subsequently, the earth is occasionally broken around them, by slight hoeing, in which operation 

 care is taken not to wound the bulb. Weeding is diligently attended to, and the watering continued, ac- 

 cording to the state of the weather. In Portugal, the means of irrigation are easy, the effects of which 

 are particularly beneficial to the onion ; for, by letting the water filter, or pass through small heaps of 

 dung, placed in the alleys of the beds, a very rich liquid flows in upon the plants. The dung, as it is 

 exhausted, or washed away, should be renewed ; and the water must be checked in its current, so that 

 it may gently spread over the surface." (Hort. Trans, iii. 68.) 



3822. MacdonalcTs practice is noticed and approved of by Warre. " He sows in February, sometimes 

 on a slight hot-bed, or merely under a glass frame ; and between the beginning of April and the middle 

 of the month, according to the state of the weather, he transplants in drills about eight inches asunder, 

 and at the distance of four or five inches from each other in the row. The bulbs thus enjoying the great 

 and well known advantages of having the surface-earth frequently stirred, swell to a much larger size than 

 those not transplanted ; while in firmness and flavor they are certainly not inferior to foreign onions." 

 (Caled, Hort. Mem. iii. 68.) 



3823. Whatever plan of transplanting spring-sown onions may be adopted, care should be taken to keep 

 the incipient bulb above ground ; and in the case of planting autumn-formed bulbs in spring, they should 

 be covered as slightly and loosely as possible, otherwise, in neither case, will the bulbs attain a satisfactory 

 magnitude. 



3824. Culture of a winter-standing crop to be drawn for use the succeeding spring. " Allot a soil 

 rather more light and sandy for the summer crop, on a sub-soil at least equally dry. The compartment, 

 especially for any of the biennial kinds, should lie warm and sheltered. The beds may be three or four 

 feet wide, running parallel to the best aspect The medium time for the principal sowing falls about the 

 seventh of August ; and for a secondary crop, near the 25th. Sow the bulbing sorts and the Welsh peren- 

 nial separately ; distribute the seed pretty thickly. If the soil be dry and light, tread down the seed evenly 

 along the surface of each bed, and then rake it in neatly. When the plants are come up, one, two, or 

 three inches, carefully hand-weed in time, before any rising weeds spread ; not thinning the plants, 

 because they should remain thick, for their chance in winter, and to be by degrees drawn thinningly for 

 use in salads and otherwise ; but reserve a principal supply to remain till spring. Observe, the Welsh 

 onion, in particular, commonly dies down to the ground about mid-winter ; but the root-part, remaining 

 wholly sound, sends up a new vigorous stem in February and March. At the opening of spring, let the 

 whole of both sorts be well cleared from weeds ; they will continue fit to draw young, during all the 

 spring months, till May ; then let some of the bulbous kinds be thinned, to remain for early bulbing in 

 June and July ; but as they will soon after shoot up in stalk, they are chiefly for present use, not being 

 eligible as keeping-onions." 



