36 THE GARD EN. MOAn@Haaene 
FEBRUARY, 1916 
These onions are the same kind, same seed, same 
garden as those shown oposite. But they did not get 
sufficient water 
smooth fine-toothed iron rake, until pereecys 
smooth and level. This applies whether they 
are to be sown from seed or transplanted. 
TRANSPLANTING SEEDLINGS 
Seedlings are very easy to transplant if the 
following precautions are observed. Trim back 
the tops about a third or so, unless they have 
heen recently cut back, so that the little plants 
will be short and stiff enough to handle 
readily; there is little danger of overdoing 
this. Trim back the roots a half or two thirds, 
so that they will stick out rather stiffly like 
the bristles of a small brush. Have the ground 
freshly prepared, ready for planting. As the 
holes made for the little plants are small, the 
surface of the soil will crumble into them if 
the soil is dry, and greatly inconvenience the 
job of planting, besides getting around the 
roots, which is just what is not wanted. 
The onions may be taken to the garden in the 
flats in which they have been growing; or, if 
they have to be taken some distance, cut and 
trim and pack quite closely into flats, without 
separating them, as the roots will be more or 
less tangled together. When planting, separ- 
ate a few at a time and keep the others shaded 
from wind or sun. 
In setting the plants, be careful not to get 
them too deep: half an inch to an inch in the 
soil above the point where the roots join the 
stem will be ample. Be very careful not to 
push them down into the ground, thus turning 
the ends of the roots upward, Each plant 
should be well firmed into the soil with the 
fingers. If irrigation is available, give them a 
good watering directly after setting, unless it 
is wet weather. 
Be sure to get the rows perfectly straight 
as this will make a great difference in the job 
of cultivating. Put two narrow cultivator 
teeth on the wheel hoe, spacing them twelve 
inches apart, with which to mark out the rows. 
For larger areas you can readily make a 
marker by driving six-inch spikes twelve to 
fourteen inches apart in a piece of pine “two- 
by-three,” and attaching a suitable handle. 
These details are mentioned because it is 
essential for this job to have a marker with 
small teeth that will sink an inch or two into 
the soil. This will loosen the soil along the 
planting line, which greatly facilitates the task 
of plant setting. Until you get used to the 
work it will be well to cross-mark the rows, to 
guide eu in getting the plants in about the 
right distance apart—four to the foot. After 
transplanting, the soil will have been more or 
less tramped down and made uneven; go over 
it at once with the wheel hoe to loosen it up, 
and again with the rake or weeder attachment 
to level and pulverize the soil between the 
rows. Don’t delay this task until the soil gets 
hard or a rain has made the ground wet. Do: 
it immediately after planting. A delay of 
twelve hours may make a great deal of extra 
trouble. 
SOWING IN THE OPEN GARDEN 
Unless you have had some experience with 
the transplanting methods and are sure that 
you have the facilities for starting the neces- 
sary number of plants and can get extra hel 
to assist in setting them out, it would be we 
not to put all your onion ground into trans- 
plants the first season. 
Just before planting the seed, an iron hand 
rake should be used to get a fresh surface, 
clean and smooth, to plant on. This is impor- 
tant. One pound of seed will plant from a 
quarter to a fifth of an acre. ou will get 
more profit out of an eighth of an acre well 
cared for than from a quarter of an acre in- 
differently tended—in growing onions remem- 
ber that, first, last and all the time. 
From ten to fourteen days after planting, 
rake again over the whole surface evenly with 
an iron rake. This will save a great deal of 
hand work later on. Do this after the seeds 
have sprouted, but before the shoots are near 
enough the surface to be broken off. This sec- 
ond raking, which can be done with very little 
effort, serves the double purpose of destroying 
thousands of sprouting weed seeds and of leav- 
ing the soil in the very best condition for the 
tiny arches of the little onions to break 
through. : 
Always sow onion seed just as early as it is 
possible to get the soni into condition. In 
case very cold weather follows it may be more 
than two weeks before the seeds will be well 
sprouted. Give this preliminary raking as late 
as possible without danger of injuring the tiny 
sprouts. \ 
It is a good plan to plant a few radish seeds 
along with the onions; they serve both to mark 
the rows before the onions are up, and to act 
as catch plants for the onion maggot fly, con- 
siderably reducing the possible injury from 
this source. In localities where the onion mag- 
gots are likely to give trouble, always sow the 
seed more thickly than otherwise, to allow for 
the loss of some plants. Details: of summer 
culture will be given in due season. 
Staking Growing Plants 
F. L. Wricut, New York 
ig SEEMS a simple matter to stake and tie a 
lant, but there are right and wrong ways 
of doing it, and only too often the wrong meth- 
ods are the ones followed. 
Among the most common errors are, first, 
putting a string round a bushy specimen, and 
tying it up as one would a shock of corn. This 
spoils all grace in the plant’s habit, crowds 
the stems to the injury of each, prevents the 
sun, air, and light from penetrating to the 
centre, which consequently becomes filled with 
dead leaves—in wet weather a mouldy, rotting 
mass. 
Secondly, the tying of stems tightly to stakes. 
This checks the flow of sap and, with growing 
Compare these onions with the poorer ones opposite. 
See what a difference an abundant supply of water 
makes 
perennials, prevents the stem rising, and so. 
causes buckling and crippling, which in the 
case of very rapidly growing stems, as shoots 
from Rambler Roses, may cause the loss of the 
stem through snapping. 
A third error is the use of rough stakes with 
knots, ends of branches, or other roughnesses, 
which in like manner catch and hold the tying 
material, and prevent the rising of the shoot, 
with similar results. 
In correctly staking plants the natural habit 
of the subject should be taken into account. A 
plant like a tall, branching Michaelmas Daisy 
or a Delphinium. is best served with a stake to 
each stem, spreading them out in such a way 
as to get an evenly balanced result; each stem 
can then develop on its own lines, and the 
centres of the plants are not crowded. With 
subjects like perennial Phlox, one stake in 
the centre will normally suffice, and the various 
stems can be looped thereto, singly or perhaps. 
in a series of two or three. Har rf Chrysanthe- 
mums also need but to be looped to a central 
stake to prevent undue windwaving. Strong 
subjects like Hollyhocks and Sunflowers must. 
have correspondingly strong stakes, preferably 
one to each if in a windy position; otherwise, a. 
certain amount of looping is admissible. In 
staking Lilies see that the stakes are suffi- 
ciently far away to avoid piercing the bulb. 
In the matter of tying if the stems are not 
likely to lengthen much, as in the lower ties 
for Chrysanthemums, the raffia, or cord, should 
be first tied tightly in position round the 
stake, and then the shoot enclosed in the loop- 
If another shoot lies outside the first the raffia. 
should be half tied to hold the first in position, 
and then a second loop made to take in the 
second shoot. 
With single growing stems a simple loop 
enclosing stake and stem in its embrace is alone 
needed; the leaves on the stem will prevent the 
tie slipping down, while its looseness will allow 
of its rising freely as the stem lengthens. 
Stakes should be sharply pointed; if painted 
green they are inconspicuous. Bamboo stakes. 
are very useful, being smooth, light, and not. 
quickly rotted; any size can be got to suit all 
urposes from a seedstore. For light plants, as 
‘arnations, Pyrethrums, wire stakes can he 
procured. A better method is to buy heavy 
wire by the pound and cut stakes to any re- 
quired length. 
Three leading varieties: Prizetaker, Danvers and Red Wethersfield, showing rela- 
tive size and shape 
Seedlings in the bench with transplant raised bulbs of previous season 
