HORTICULTURE. 



261 



marked by its fLtukr leaves, swelling sulk, and bul- 

 bons root. Neither the native country of the plant, 

 nor the date of it* introduction into Urn island, arc 

 known. There are several varieties in cultivation. One 

 of the chief of these is the otra bur.fl], which is of an 

 oval shape, attains a considerable size, and keeps very 

 long. The Deptford onion may be considered as a 

 eubvariety of the Strasburgh. The white Spanish 

 onion grows to a large size, and U of a flat shape. Al- 

 lied to this U the large *ilver-*kinned union, the mon 

 beautiful of all the varieties: the small silver-skinned 

 u preferred for pickling. The globe onion it likewise 

 much cultivated, being a good keeper ; and the Read- 

 ing and the Portugal are frequently sown. 



333. For the principal crop, the teed is sown in Fe- 

 bruary or the beginning of March, according to the state 

 of the weather, and the dryness of the ground. The onion 

 delights to grow on light but rich ground, which has 

 not Men recently manured : it shouU be well delved, 

 broken fine, and exactly levelled. In heavy land, it is 

 thought better to tow in the end of March or begin, 

 nine of April. The seed it either sown at broad-cast or 

 in shallow drill* ; a very slight covering of earth U gi- 

 ven, and the bed is merely mioothed with the rake ; 

 the more that onion* grow on the surface, the better 

 they prove. The tuual proportion of seed is about an 

 ounce to a pole of land. Market gardeners aomctimes 

 sow thicker, with the view of drawing voung onions, 

 which are called rullings, or in Scotland ty6m (from 

 r.) A snvtll quantity of lettuce teed it fre- 

 i along with otuom ; and very fine lettuce 

 without materially injuring 



crop. A first hoeing it given when the plants 

 have advanced three or four ioche* in growth, and they 

 are then thinned out with the hand to about four in dm 

 apart Another hoeing it given, generally about a month 

 or six weeks afterward*, according to the kind of tea- 

 son ; and the broadcast plants are then singled out to 

 boot six inches square, and those in drills to about 

 four or five inches in line. Alter the onions have be- 

 gun to swell, the hoe cannot be used, and any large 

 weeds are drawn out with the hand. If the wnathsr 

 be dry at the time of thinning, a plentiful watering is 

 for settling the earth to the roots of the re- 

 iu. About the end of August the crop is 

 i is known by the leaves falling down. The 

 i an then drawn, and laid out on a dry spot of 

 ground, such as a gravel walk, and occasionally turn- 

 ad. In a fortnight they an generally found sufficient. 

 ly firm and dry for keeping; and they are then stored 

 in a garret or loft, (never in a cellar,) and excluded as 

 en as may be from the air. They an still very apt 

 to grow ; and to prevent this, tome are at the pains to 

 select the finest bulbs, and singe the radicles with a 

 hot iron. In many place* they an strung in bunches, 



334. The secondary crop of onions is sown in Au- 

 gnat or the beginning of September, and called the Mi- 

 rhaehnas or winter crop. They are thinned in the 

 usual way ; and weeds must be carefully kept down, a* 

 they spring up very rapidly at this season of the year. 



In the 



when the keeping onions fail, 



part of these autumn town onion* are drawn for use: 

 the remainder fonn bulb*, which are ready in the early 

 part of summer. In the course of May, however, some 

 bulb* will be observed pushing a flower-stem : these 

 are cast out; and to check this tendency, and divert 



the growth to the bulb, the crop is laid orfr, as it is 

 oiled. This operation is described by Nieol in his 

 " Kaleiular." Two people, with a rod or rake-handle. 

 walk along the alleys, holding the rod so as to strike 

 the stems an inch or two above the bulb, and bend 

 them flat down. Winter onions thus managed, may be 

 tnken up about the end of June, and are generally firm 

 and keep lung. 



In order to procure firm diminutive bulbs proper for 

 pickling, some seed should be sown Iste in the spring, 

 perhaps about the middle of April, in light nnd very poor 

 land. It should be sown pretty thick ; and the seed- 

 lings need scarcely be thinned, unless * here they rise 

 absolutely in clusters. The bulbs thus treated are gent-- 

 rally of a proper sixe for pickling in August. The small 

 silver skinned variety, it has been already mentioned, 

 U well adapted for this purpose. 



It may here be noticed, that such of the keeping 

 onions as have sprouted in the loft, are sometimes plant- 

 ed in a bed early in the spring, especially by market, 

 gardeners. In a short time they appear fresh, throw, 

 ing out long green leaves. They are then sent to mar- 

 l-.it tied in small bunches, and sold as a substitute for 

 tcaUiims, and under that name. 



335. It ha* long been known, that young seedling 

 onions might be transplanted with success. Even Wor- 

 lidge, in bis little treatise on gardening,* published in 

 the end of the 1 7th century, praises this mode. The 

 practice has of late years been revived, and recommend- 

 ed iu England by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. and 

 in Scotland by Mr James Macdonald, gardener to 

 the Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith. Mr Knight's plan 

 is, to sow the onion seed at the ordinary autumn 

 season, thick under the shade of a tree, and to trans. 

 plant the bulb* the following spring : he thus procures 

 onions equal in size and other Qualities to those import- 

 ed from Spain. Mr Macdonald, again, transplants the 

 young spring sown onion*. He sows in February, 

 sometimes on a slight hot-bed, or merely under a glass 

 frame t and between the beginning of April and tin- 

 middle of the month, according to die state of the wea- 

 ther, he transplants the young seedling?, in drills about 

 eight inches asunder, and at the distance of four or five 

 inches from each other in the row. It is evident, that 

 by thus having the crop in regular rows, hoeing may 

 not only supersede hand.weeding, but may be more ef- 

 fectually performed. The bulbs thus enjoying the great 

 and well-known advantage* of having the surface-earth 

 frequently stirred, swell to a much larger size than 

 those not transplanted ; while in firmnes* and flavour 

 they arv certainly not inferior to foreign onions. At 

 the same time the transplanted onion* remain free from 

 wire-worm or rot, while those left in the original seed- 

 bed are frequently much injured by both. The l>e<!s 

 destined for these onions having probably been under a 

 crop, are deeply delved over in the beginning of 

 April, and thus rendered clean at the most critical sea- 

 con of the year for the larva? that infest the soil lie. 

 side*, the plant* grow with superior vigour, in conse. 

 quence of the repeated hoeing*, and arc thus better 

 able to resist injuries. Mr M- Donald, indeed, some, 

 time* practises the dipping of the roots of seedlings 

 in a puddle prepared with one part of soot and three 

 part* of earth ; but this may probably be dispensed 

 with, as it seems likely that the exemption from the at> 

 tark* of the worm or the power of resisting them, de- 

 pend rather on the other circumstances mentioned. It 



J. W. 



1C83. 



