ALLIACEOUS PLANTS.— THE ONION. 



35 



teansplanting, are much larger-^say from 

 the size of a crow-quill to that of an ordi- 

 nary writing one : the roots are propor- 

 tionably larger also. The ground being 

 prepared as above, and the line stretched 

 out, a shallow notch in the back part-^— 

 that is, that next the line — should be cut 

 somewhat oblique, and no deeper than the 

 exact length of the roots. The young 

 plants should be carefully taken up, with 

 their fibres quite entire (on this much of 

 the success depends) ; and to facilitate the 

 operations, the ground in which they are 

 growing should be loosened deeply with a 

 three-pronged fork. They should also be 

 placed in shallow boxes (trays), and pro- 

 tected from the sun and air while out of 

 the ground. The whole thus far being in 

 readiness, the planter arranges the plants 

 in a slightly slanting direction against 

 the oblique bank, taking care that no part 

 of the plant is covered with soil save the 

 roots ; and while the arrangement of the 

 plants is going on, the roots are covered 

 as they are placed by pushing a little of 

 the finest soil against them with the hand. 

 The plants should be allowed the same 

 distance as those above. When they are 

 all arranged in the first line, some more 

 soil is placed over the roots by the spade, 

 the line removed, and a fresh row marked 

 out. We often, in our own practice, and 

 operating on a very light soil, prepare the 

 ground as we have described above ; but 

 instead of cutting out a slight notch, we 

 lay the plants flat down on the smooth- 

 beaten surface, and place over the roots a 

 little well-pulverised soil. This is a good 

 plan at an advanced period of spring, for 

 should a warm shower or two fall soon 

 after planting, the plants will rise them- 

 selves to a perpendicular position, having 

 no part under the surface except the roots. 

 And this is desirable, for if they were 

 deep planted, their bulbing would be pre- 

 vented, at least to a great extent. 



The third mode of raising onions re- 

 ferred to above, is by small bulbs selected 

 from the previous crop, and which may 

 be about the size of a hazel-nut. Some 

 sow expressly to secure such (vide infra). 

 This practice is not noticed as a novelty, 

 for it has been more or less adopted from 

 time immemorial. Its true object is to 

 obtain larger onions than the coldness of 

 our climate enables us to do with spring- 

 sown ones, and it, therefore, may be worth 



the attention of those who live in high 

 and cold situations, even should they pur- 

 chase the small ones to plant, which may 

 readily be obtained from any respect- 

 able nursery or seedsman. The earliest 

 written mention deserving much credit 

 we have met with of this practice is 

 recorded in " Systema Horticulturse," 

 by Worlidge, who practised towards the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century. 

 The late Mr Knight revived the practice, 

 and his papers in "The Horticultural 

 Transactions" led others to speculate in 

 the same way. A quotation from that 

 high authority will be quite sufiicient for 

 our present purpose. After some preli- 

 minary remarks on bulbous and other 

 perennial plants having the property of 

 accumulating in one season the material 

 that composes the leaves and roots of the 

 succeeding season, he proceeds : " This re- 

 served sap is deposited in, and composes 

 in a great measure the bulb ; and the quan- 

 tity accumulated, as well as the period 

 required for its accumulation, varies 

 greatly in the same species of plant, under 

 more or less favourable 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 climate of England ; but, under 

 the following mode of culture, which I 

 have long practised, two summers in 

 England produces nearly the efiect of one 

 in Spain and 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 situations 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 pre- 

 served till the succeeding spring, when, 

 they are planted at equal distances from 

 each other, and they aiford plants which 

 differ from those raised immediately 

 from seed only in possessing much greater 

 strength and vigour, owing to the quan- 

 tity 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 



