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LXXVI. On the Cultivation of the Underground, and some 

 other Onions. In a Letter to the Secretary. By John 

 Wedgwood, Esq. F. H. S. 



Read September 21st, 1819. 



My dear Sir, 



I have just now read in the Horticultural Society's Trans- 

 actions* Mr. Maher's Paper on the cultivation of the 

 Underground or Potatoe Onion. 



I am myself a grower of these Onions, but do not entirely 

 agree with Mr. Maher, in all particulars; I will state 

 wherein I differ from him. His method of planting is very 

 good; but, in the subsequent treatment, I believe he is 

 wrong. 



I never use the hoe to the plant, except for clearing the 

 ground from weeds. When the Onions have shot out their 

 leaves to their full size, and when they begin to get a lit- 

 tle brown at the top, I clear away all the soil from the 

 bulb, down to the ring, from whence proceed the fibres 

 of the roots, and thus form a basin round each bulb, which 

 catches the rain, and serves as a receptacle for the water 

 from the watering pot. I find that the old bulbs then im- 

 mediately begin to form new ones, and if they are kept 

 properly moist, and the soil is good, the cluster will be 

 very large and numerous. This is not the only advan- 

 tage of this mode of treatment, as the bulbs thus grown 

 above ground are much sounder than those formed be- 

 * Page 305 of this volume. 



vol. in. 3 G 



