ONION. 



217 



of leached ashes ploughed in : in April, 1822, it was once 

 ploughed, and sowed in rows 14 inches apart, which took 

 between three and four pounds of seed : in the course of 

 the season, it was hoed betw^een the rows, and weeded four 

 times : in September, the onions w^ere harvested, and there 

 were six hundred and fifty-one bushels. The entire ex- 

 pense of cultivating this acre of onions, including twenty- 

 one dollars and thirty-seven cents, the cost of the manure, 

 was fifty-seven dollars and thirty-eight cents." 



The work entitled Gleanings^ &ic. in Husbandry^ directs 

 to sow onions, if possible, in a dry time, and to tread them 

 in, in light ground. 



Loudon says, " When onions are to be drawn young, 

 two ounces of seed will be requisite for a bed four feet by 

 twenty-four ; but when to remain for bulbing, one ounce 

 will suffice for a bed five feet by twenty-four feet." 



Deane says, " The ground should be dug or ploughed in 

 autumn, not very deep ; and then made very fine in the 

 spring, and all the gross roots and roots of weeds taken 

 out ; then laid in beds four feet wdde. Four rows of holes 

 are made in a bed, the rows ten inches apart, and the ho'es 

 in the row s ten. About half a dozen seeds are put in a 

 hole, or more, if there be any danger of their not coming 

 up well, and buried an inch under the surface. They 

 grow very well in bunches. Though the largest onions 

 are those which grow singly some inches apart, those which 

 are more crow^ded produce larger crops. And the middle- 

 sized onions are better for eating than the largest." The 

 last week in April is the proper time for sowing, according 

 to this author. 



The course of culture recommended by Abercrombie for 

 the summer, and what he calls winter-laid-by crops, is as 

 follows : — " Allot an open compartment, and lay it out in 

 beds, from three to five feet in wddth. Sow broad-cast, 

 equally over the rough surface, moderately thick, bed and 

 bed separately, and rake in the seed lengthwise each bed, 

 in a regular manner. When the plants are three or four 

 inches high, in May and June, let them be timely cleared 

 from w^eeds, and let the principal crop be thinned, either by 

 hand, or with a small, two-inch hoe ; thinning the plants to 

 intervals of from three to five inches in the main crops de- 

 signed for full bulbing ; or, some beds may remain mode- 

 rately thick for drawing young, by successive thinnings, to 

 the above distance. For the Spanish, from seed obtained 

 19 



