Notices of Communications, $c. 131 



moderate soil, without the abundant supply of manure which 

 broad-cast sowing requires. The seed is sown on a slight 

 hot-bed in the second week in March ; the plants, when up, 

 are exposed to the air whenever the weather permits, and in 

 the last week in April they are planted out in the following 

 manner. Deep drills are made on a piece of well dug ground, 

 fifteen inches asunder, and the drills are filled with good com- 

 post of equal parts of sandy loam and rotten dung; the 

 plants being drawn carefully from the bed, are placed in 

 these drills, at twelve inches distance from each other, their 

 fibres only being covered with the mould, and the entire bulb 

 kept above ground. When planted, they receive a gentle 

 watering, which is continued daily, unless rain falls, till the 

 roots have got hold of the compost; they are afterwards 

 hoed, when necessary, and occasionally watered till they are 

 fit to take up. Mr. James has found, that by sowing Onion 

 seed on a good south border the second week in September, 

 the plants, if of a hardy variety, will stand the winter ; and 

 they may be treated in the spring as above described, with 

 equal success as if they had been raised in a hot- bed. 



At the same Meeting. Mr. John Thomfson, a Corres- 

 ponding Member, communicated to the Society a Method of 

 preserving Grapes, till very late in the season, which is prac- 

 tised by him with success in the garden of Earl Cowper, at 

 Panshanger, Hertfordshire. The Grapes are ripened in the 

 vineries under the glass, but without any artificial heat. In 

 the autumn, as soon as the weather becomes damp, he lights 

 fires in the flues about 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning, giv- 

 ing plenty of air at the same time ; the fires are put out in 

 the afternoon, and the houses are closely shut up at night. 



