208 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



ONION, (Alliurn cepa.) 



Onions are raised either by "sets," which are small 

 dry onions grown the previous year, or from seeds. When 

 grown from the sets, they should be planted out as early 

 in spring as the ground is dry enough to work ; plant 

 them in rows one foot apart, with sets three or four 

 inches apart. When raised from sets, the onions can 

 be used in the green state in June, or they will be 

 ripened off by July. When raised from seeds, these are 

 sown at about the same distance between the rows, and 

 when the young plants are an inch or so high, they are 

 thinned out to two or three inches apart. It is import- 

 ant that onion-seed be sown very early. In this lati- 

 tude it should be sown not later than the middle of 

 April, for if delayed until May, warm weather sets in 

 and delays, or rather prolongs the growth until fall, and 

 often the bulbs will not ripen ; we find that unless the 

 onion-tops dry off and the bulbs ripen by August, they 

 will hardly do so later. The best known sorts are White 

 Portugal or Silver Skinned, Yellow Dutch or Strasburg, 

 and Wethersfield Eed. 



Two kinds are grown exclusively from bulbs ; one of 

 these is the Potato Onion, or " Multipliers," which in- 

 crease by the bulb splitting up and dividing itself into 

 six or eight smaller bulbs, which in turn form the sets 

 to plant for the next crop. The other variety is what is 

 called "Top Onion," which forms little bulbs on the 

 stem in the place of flowers ; these are in clusters, and 

 about the size of hazel nuts. These small bulbs are 

 broken apart and planted in spring at the same distances 

 as the "sets" referred to above ; all mature in August. 



PARSLEY, (Carum Petroselinum.) 



But a very small quantity of this is usually wanted in 

 the family garden. Sow in shallow drills in April or 



