32 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



supposed. Early sowing has, neverthe- 

 less, its advantages, one of which, and an 

 important one too, is, that germination 

 takes place slowly, the roots take the 

 advance of the leaves, and, by their 

 doing so, they are stronger and more 

 numerous; and, consequently, when the 

 invigorating effects of the advancing sun 

 begin to act upon the foliage, they are 

 in a condition to provide and throw into 

 the system of the young plant a much 

 greater quantity of nourishment than 

 they could do if vegetation commenced 

 in both simultaneously, which would be 

 the case if not sown before the middle of 

 April, when the air becomes warmed by 

 solar influence. Another advantage has 

 been stated as arising from early sowing, 

 which is the greater strength communi- 

 cated to the plant, and hence its greater 

 ability to resist the attacks of insects. 

 This view seems strengthened in the case 

 of autumnal-sown onions, which seldom 

 are attacked by the grub, because they 

 are not only stronger, but have attained 

 a greater degree of pungency before the 

 season at which the insects are hatched. 

 Late-sown onions have of late years often 

 been cut ofi' by spring frosts just as they 

 were coming through the ground, or 

 when they are about a couple of inches 

 in height. The more rapid process of 

 vegetation induced by those warm sunny 

 days we now so often experience during the 

 month of April, makes the young plants 

 rush up rapidly, and in this tender state 

 they faU a ready sacrifice to the sharp 

 frosts which so often in the mornings 

 succeed those warm sunny days. Where 

 vegetation proceeds more slowly, and 

 where it influences the roots sooner than 

 the tops, the plants not only become 

 better inured to the cold, but, should it 

 even prove severe, the strength thrown 

 into the plants by the roots enables them 

 much better to resist its effects. 



No positive date can be given as to the 

 day or week, nay, even month, that the 

 operation should be performed, suitable 

 to all soils, situations, and circumstances; 

 the condition of the soil should, however, 

 never be disregarded. In this, as in all 

 other cases of seed-sowing, the soil can 

 never be too dry, nor too much pulver- 

 ised ; and this is more especially the case 

 in all cold, damp, and strong clayey soils. 

 In the neighbourhood of towns, where the 



soil is highly enriched, and contains a 

 large amount of humus, and where, as in 

 the case of commercial gardens, it is 

 thoroughly wrought by repeated trench- 

 ing and digging, the beginning of Feb- 

 ruary may be taken as a good time for 

 sowing, provided both the weather and 

 soil are in a fit state. In all cold elevated 

 situations, and where the soil is wet and 

 in an imperfect state of culture, then the 

 middle of March will be a more proper 

 season, and in the worst situations of all, 

 the beginning of April. 



Autumnal sowing has not only the 

 advantages stated above, but also that of 

 affording during winter a supply of young 

 onions for salad purposes, as well as for 

 being used in French cookery, particu- 

 larly in the artistic preparation of that 

 not -to -be -despised viand, a properly 

 cooked rump-steak, which is amazingly 

 improved by being served up covered 

 with young onions, cut up into the small- 

 est possible fragments. Onions are also 

 sown in autumn, say about the middle of 

 August ; and where they withstand the 

 winter, they are transplanted in March 

 or the beginning of April, according to 

 the circumstances of soil, &c., stated 

 above, in lines a foot asunder, setting the 

 plants six inches apart in the row. These, 

 having the start of the spring-sown crop, 

 bulb earlier, furnishing a supply after 

 those from the onion-room have been 

 consumed, and carrying on the supply 

 till the spring-sown crop arrives at matu- 

 rity. The best formed and best ripened 

 bulbs of the autumn-sown crop are se- 

 lected, and reserved for winter use, and 

 fill the shelves of the onion-room long 

 before the general crop is fit for storing. 

 Many adopt the autumn sowing and 

 spring transplanting, believing the onions 

 so produced keep better than the others. 

 This may be accounted for by their being 

 more thoroughly ripened, during July 

 and August, than the general crop, which 

 ripens at a much later and more unfavour- 

 able season. We ought, however, to ob- 

 serve, that all autiman-sown crops of this 

 plant, intended to arrive at maturity, 

 should be transplanted. 



The best mode of sowing the onion 

 is in drills from nine to twelve, and 

 even fifteen inches apart, according to 

 the soil, and the size the crop is likely 

 to arrive at. In poor soils, where the 



