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LVIII. On the Cultivation of the Under-ground Onion. In a 

 Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. John Maher, F.H.S. 

 Gardener to His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, at Arundel 

 Castle. 



Read November 3, 1818. 



Sir, 



I have the honour to send, for the inspection of the Horti- 

 cultural Society,some samples of the Under-ground Onion, at 

 present not so generally cultivated as it deserves ; for when, in 

 consequence of unfavourable seasons, the seed of the Com- 

 mon Onion cannot be depended on, the Under-ground 

 Onions are always certain to produce a crop. In February 

 last, I planted sixty of these Onions, and on the eleventh 

 of July, I took up from them eighteen score. A single bulb, 

 which was pulled up by mistake, shortly after it had shot 

 up, had attached to it, thirty-seven rudiments of bulbs. 



My method of cultivating the Under-ground Onion is as 

 follows ; as early in the spring, as the weather will permit, I 

 prepare a piece of ground by digging and dunging it well; this 

 is formed into beds, four feet wide, on which I draw lines the 

 whole length, three to each bed, and with the end of the rake 

 handle, make a mark (not a drill) on the surface ; on this mark 

 I place the Onions, ten inches apart ; I then cover them with 

 leaf mould, rotten dung, or any other light compost, just so 

 that the crowns appear exposed. Nothing more is necessary 

 to be done until they shoot up their tops ; then, on a dry day, 

 they are earthed up, like potatoes, and kept free from weeds 

 until they are taken up. In the west of England, where this 

 kind of Onion is much cultivated, I understand that it is the 



