ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. — THE ONION. 



33 



bulbs usually do not much exceed the 

 size of a large walnut, the former distance 

 will be sufficient ; when they are to attain 

 their fullest size, which they will do in 

 rich, well-wrought ground, and in a 

 medium climate, then the latter distance 

 will not be too much, because the foliage 

 requires room for development, and a full 

 exposure on all sides to the influences of 

 light and air, without which they could 

 not elaborate the necessary amount of 

 sap required for the perfect enlargement 

 of the bulbs. This is clearly demon- 

 strated in the case of onions sown thickly 

 in a bed, and allowed to remain so, com- 

 pared with the same sort grown in the 

 drill manner, and allowed sufficient room. 

 The latter will bulb, the former will not 

 at all; but at the termination of their 

 growing season, they will resemble more 

 the character of the leek than the onion. 

 In this state, they justly come under the 

 denomination of sybo or scallion, or im- 

 perfect onion — that is, having leaves and 

 stalk, but no bulb. In forming the drills, 

 after the ground has been broken by 

 being raked over deeply, and reduced to 

 a pretty fine state of pulverisation, the 

 line is stretched from end to end of the 

 ground, and the drill opened with the 

 corner of a sharp clean draw-hoe, the face 

 of which is directed towards the line, the 

 operator standing on the side still to be 

 drilled, by which means the drills are 

 left entire and open. Various contrivances 

 have been employed to economise time 

 in this operation. The drill-rake (fig. 1) 

 is one of the simplest and most efficient, 

 and is constructed of a headpiece, like 

 that of a common rake, only double 

 the size, into which broad flat wooden 

 teeth are set, ta- 

 pering to wards the 

 points, and at such 

 distance apart as 

 the drills are to 

 be drawn. Some- 

 times the head is 

 in two flat pieces, 

 to admit of the 

 teeth being set at different distances, to 

 adapt it to different crops, according to the 

 distance the rows are to be apart, these 

 pieces being screwed together at each 

 end; or if more than three drills are to be 

 drawn at once, a third screw is placed in 

 the middle. Others use a head perforated 



DRILL-RAKE. 



with small holes, one inch apart, into 

 which the tops of the teeth are set, and 

 fixed at any required distance. We use, 

 attached to Sievewright's cultivator, 

 which runs on a small wheel behind and 

 another in front, a transverse iron bar 

 perforated with holes, cut with female- 

 screws within, to receive the tops of the 

 drill-forming teeth, which are cut with 

 male-screws, so as to work in the others. 

 By this means we can draw at once six 

 or eight drills, and at any distance re- 

 quired: one man draws the machine, and 

 another guides it behind. In either case 

 it is necessary to set off the first drill 

 with a line, afterwards the drill-tooth on 

 the right-hand side should be made to 

 travel over the last drill formed. This 

 keeps the drills straight and equidistant. 

 Such appliances work, however, best in 

 light dry ground, and in such as are in a 

 highly cultivated state, and free from 

 stones. 



Onion -seed is in general sown too 

 deep ; 1 \ inches is amply sufficient, and 

 even one inch has been found by some 

 growers to be better. Abercrombie, 

 were it not that he recommends broad- 

 cast sowing (that is, promiscuously over 

 the whole surface), is correct as to depth. 

 He says, "sow broadcast equally over 

 the rough surface, moderately thick, and 

 rake in the seed in a regular manner." 

 Some good cultivators, after the ground 

 has been properly dug or trenched, lay 

 very rotten manure over the surface, and 

 on this they sow the seed, covering 

 it slightly with earth from the alleys. 

 This would be a very excellent plan, 

 could the seed be disposed of in lines, 

 and kept in them during the process of 

 covering. All broadcast sowing, in the 

 case of such crops, is far behind the pre- 

 sent state of high cultivation : it is, how- 

 ever, not ill adapted to the limited scale 

 of a manse or cotter's garden. The prin- 

 ciple of deeply stirring the soil, and plac- 

 ing on its surface the necessary manurial 

 application equally over it, is perfectly 

 correct. It is thus in the most favour- 

 able position for its fertilising properties 

 reaching the points of the roots, as it will 

 be washed down to them by the rains ; 

 and they are the parts to which enrich- 

 ment, to be useful, should be applied. 

 The London market-gardeners sow their 

 principal crop in February or the begin- 



