i8o 



WINDFALLS. 



tramping on board firm the ground ; then cover with 

 old carpet or like material, which I leave on till the 

 green can be seen in the rows. I water when needed on 

 the carpet, and use some nitrate of soda when prepar- 

 ing the bed. Seed should be covered as lightly as pos- 

 sible. — Emory P. Robinson, Ohio. 



Onion Seed Should be Sown Early. — Experiments 

 by Professor Green at the Ohio Experiment Station con- 

 firm the experience of all successful onion growers, in 

 showing the importance of giving onions an early start 

 so that they may get hold of the soil before dry, hot 

 weather sets in. Old horticultural writers taught the 

 same thing a century ago. MacDonald sowed his ' ' seeds 

 in February, sometimes on a slight hot-bed, or merely 

 under a glass frame ; and between the beginning of 

 April and the middle of the month, according to the 

 state of the weather, he transplanted in drills about 

 eight inches asunder and at the distance of four or five 

 inches from each other in the row." James did the 

 same thing. In Mcintosh's "Book of the Garden" he 

 has full details, of which we have space only to quote a 

 few words. He says : ' ' The seed should be sown about 

 the beginning of February in light, rich sandy soil, 

 placed over a hot-bed of moderate temperature — say 

 45° ; or they may be sown in what is called a cold pit 

 or frame. Towards the end of April the young plants 

 should be carefully taken up, without injury being done 

 to either their tender tops or equally tender fibres, and 

 transferred to the open garden." 



This is a very old and well-known practice, but has been 

 discarded in this country for many years because we had 

 found that by sowing the seed very early out-doors, mak- 

 ing the land rich and by thoroughly cultivating or hoeing 

 between the rows it was not necessary to thin out the 

 crop more than would unavoidably be done during the 

 process of seeding. 



It is not necessary to start the American varieties of 

 onion in the hot-bed and be at the labor of transplanting 

 them. But it is certainly desirable to start the seed as 

 early as possible. Half the failures in onion growing 

 are the result of late spring. 



This is the lesson we draw from Professor Green's 

 experiments. They were made to show the advantage 

 of transplanting as compared with out-door sowing. 

 Unfortunately, however, the seed of the out-door crop 

 was not sown early enough. Professor Green waited, 

 before sowing the seed, till the soil was in a nice working 

 condition for transplanting the plants and all danger 

 from frost was over. A practical onion grower 

 in that time would have had the seed up and possibly 

 the plants big enough to hoe. Furthermore, the onions 

 grown from seed are thinned out to three inches apart in 

 the row. If they had been sown early and the soil was 

 rich, an inch apart would have given a larger crop. As 

 it was, the transplanted Yellow Danvers, set three inches 

 apart in the rows, averaged three ounces each, and those 

 late sown, and thinned out the same distance, but not 

 transplanted, averaged only two ounces each. No one 



will claim that there is anything to be gained by trans- 

 planting. The gain comes from early sowing. It length- 

 ens the season and gives the onions a chance to throw 

 out roots and get hold of the moist soil before dry, hot 

 weather sets in. Transplanting does harm rather than 

 good ; it checks the growth. It may be a necessary 

 method when we are growing the large, late Spanish or 

 southern varieties. They succeed best in a long season 

 and with irrigation. Why they are not more extensively 

 grown in the southern states I do not understand. With 

 an article that can be so easily transported long dis- 

 tances, it would seem that we here at the north can 

 hardly hope to make hot-house culture pay, except on a 

 small scale for local demand. A few days ago a corres- 

 pondent in Michigan wrote that he thought of raising 

 and transplanting five acres of these southern onions, 

 and asked advice. I replied "Don't." Another gar- 

 dener in New Jersey wrote that he thought of setting 

 out an acre. This is better — half an acre or quarter of 

 an acre would be better still. Professor Green's experi- 

 ments were made on plots four feet square, or the 

 2,722 ''2 part of an acre. 



If you are going to try the transplanting method, try 

 at the same time soaking the seed and keeping it till it 

 sprouts and then sow it the moment the frost is out of 

 the surface soil. Early sowing is one great secret of 

 success in growing onions. — Joseph Harris, N. Y. 



Everbearing Potato-Vines. — In a small Connecticut 

 town not far from New Haven, lives an elderly tailor 

 with his wife, both brought up to habits of thrift and 

 economy. Their little place has a well-kept appearance 

 and shows a constant effort to make it neat and attract- 

 ive. The garden plot is quite limited in size, and careful 

 manipulation is necessary in planting to make it supply 

 their wants of summer garden truck. From the wife I 

 learned something of interest to me in potato culture. 

 Twenty hills of potatoes were planted in well enriched 

 soil, started as early as possible and given good care and 

 culture. From these few hills a supply of this neces- 

 sary article was obtained through the entire season. As 

 the season advanced, the woman, with trowel in hand, 

 carefully probed the ground about every hill, and finding 

 the largest grown tuber, would carefully separate it from 

 the vine, replacing the dirt. From a few hills 

 enough for one cooking could be obtained. With a lit- 

 tle care the thing was kept up through the entire sum- 

 mer, until finally late in the season the hills were un- 

 covered, only to find almost, if not quite as large a 

 crop, yet to be dug as if this continual revenue had not 

 been enjoyed through the entire summer. This can 

 be truly called a method of obtaining everbearing pota- 

 toes. The vines, relieved from time to time of their 

 burden of tubers, keep making a new effort to bear 

 more or develop those that otherwise would have 

 amounted to nothing. — E. F. C, N,-w Haven. 



Rhubarb and Sage. — John T. Erds inquires (Janu- 

 ary, p. 49) how to propagate rhubarb and sage. The 

 directions given are good ; but plants of either, grown 



