THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



63 



destroy the character and expression of the 

 tree, and produce a confused mass, that cannot 

 fail to be disagreeab e to every one whose taste 

 has been even slightly cultivated. 



Few people seem to appreciate fully the 

 beauty of a piece of lawn — a beauty which is 

 at once cheap and permanent. Most of us de- 

 sire to be economical ; but what economy is 

 there in cutting up small gardens into walks, 

 flower borders and beds, and in planting them 

 all over with trees and plants ? These walks 

 and borders need constant care, or they soon 

 become unsightly; they need a constant sue 

 cession of flowering plants to keep up a dis- 

 play. The culture of flowers along borders 

 and among trees is never successful or satisfac- 

 tory. They must have a place allotted to them- 

 selves, where they can be tastefully grouped 

 and receive proper attention. A very impor- 

 tant point is the selection of suitable trees for 

 small gardens We very often see trees of 

 the largest class planted where there is no 

 room for them, simply because such trees are 

 planted in every garden. The little front gar- 

 dens of street houses in some of the English 

 towns delight every one who sees them, by the 

 appropriateness of their arrangement and orna- 

 ments. A spot of bright green lawn, garnished 

 with two or three Laurels or Rhododendrons, 

 and some climbing Roses and Honeysuckles 

 around the windows, and these all glittering 

 with high polish, like a new coin from the 

 mint — no cutting up into all manner of mis- 

 shaped beds and borders, no entangled masses 

 of trees and plants. 



THE ONION FAMILY. 



From the peculiar flavor of this family of 

 esculents, both as a condiment and as a sub- 

 stantial article of food, the good housewife 

 should insist on introducing the whole family 

 into the garden. The London Horticultural 

 Society cultivates fourteen varieties of the 

 onion. With us, three are enough — the red, 

 white and yellow. The soil for the greatest 

 perfection of the bulbs is a rich sandy loam. 

 Cow manure is preferable to stable; hog ma- 

 nure is better than either ; and hen manure is 

 the very best of all. There is no country 

 where the onion comes to greater perfection 

 from the black seed, than in these Southern 

 Stages. And as it takes two years for the 

 onion to produce seed, the first year's bulb 

 will be altogether the finest for the table. The 

 black seed ir.ay be planted in January, Feb- 

 uary, or even as late as March. First test 

 the seed by soaking; if they are sound, they 

 will sprout in forty-eight hours ; then sow in 

 drills just as you expect largo bulbs to stand ; 



the drills should be twelve inches apart; as 

 the onions begin to grow, thin them out in the 

 row to six inches, and if the soil and culture 

 is right the bulbs will be crowding each other 

 in June. Another method of propagating 

 the onion is from set* ; these may be procured 

 by sowing the seeds broadcast in the fall. 

 Burn a piece of land over in Septemb* r, to 

 kill the grass seed ; then manure it highly ; 

 spade it deeply in, and sow on it black seed at 

 the rate of six pounds to the acre ; harrow or 

 rake it over, and run the horse or hand roller 

 over it. These will make fine bulbs to trans- 

 plant into drills in the spring. Another me- 

 thod of obtaining the onion is from the top or 

 button. This is a cluster of small onions pro- 

 duced on the top, instead of the black seed ; 

 these should be planted like the set, in the 

 fall and winter, but may be planted in Febru- 

 ary or March. The next best variety of the 

 onion family for Southern culture, is French 

 shallots. These produce a button on the top, 

 like the tree onion, and may be propagated 

 either by the button or dividing the roots ; 

 this variety never decays in the ground, but 

 continues winter and spring to throw out off- 

 setts from the buttons, and are at all times 

 seasonable for soups, stews and hashes. The 

 small shallot, or Welsh onion, grows much like 

 the large kind, except that it is only propaga- 

 ted by dividing the roots. This is mostly 

 used as a spring salad, being very mild. The 

 leek is a very important member of the fami- 

 ly, not half appreciated at the South. Like 

 the shallot it never decays, but continues to 

 perpetuate itself by its offsets as long as the 

 ground is kept clear of weeds and grass around 

 it. It produces a black seed, like the onion, 

 from which a start may be got. They are a 

 great delicacy for the table, being milder than 

 the onion, and may taken from the ground 

 every month in the year. And last comes that 

 quintescence of all the onion tribe, garlic ; 

 this is propagated by offsetts ; it may be left 

 in the ground the year round. It is used me- 

 dicinally and as a flavorer of condiments. No 

 good gardener should be without the whole 

 family. 



I ' 



THE VINEYARD. 

 Two grape vines will make a vineyard, if 

 the proprietor chooses to convert their produce 

 into wine. And everybody may have two 

 grape vines that will. Our native grapes are 

 the only vines for open culture, and are supe- 

 rior for wine to any of the imported. There 

 has been so much mystery thrown around 

 wine making, that our good housewives have 

 let grapes decay upon the vines, and purchased 



