70 



A LITTLE PLACE IN THE COUNTRY. 



started, the peculiar needs of each must be studied. 

 Cabbage will stand a degree of cold that would ruin 

 the tomato plants, and while the latter must be 

 more carefully protected, they may be easily killed 

 with kindness. They will stand almost any amount 

 of heat if sufficient moisture accompanies it ; but let 

 the bed become both hot and dry, and the warm 

 sun of a late April afternoon will soon put them in 

 a sorry plight. In order to make the plants hardy 

 and able to endure exposure when planted out, all 

 the beds should be given as much air as possible 

 whenever the days are warm enough to permit rais- 

 ing the sashes a little way. 



Radishes in particular, if tried under glass, must 

 be kept moist and cool, approaching as nearly as 

 possible to the normal condition and temperature of 

 the open ground in May. If too hot and dry they will 

 run up to stalk, leaving the root tough and pithy. 



As the season progresses, and day by day we find 

 that it is growing a little warmer and the soil grow- 

 ing a little dryer, in some favored spots dry enough 

 to work it will be difficult to keep our hands from 

 the hoe and the spading fork — more difficult, per- 

 haps, than it will be three months hence ! To re- 

 lieve this uneasiness there are a few things that we 

 may do very early. Among the first of these is to 

 make an onion bed. This may be done as soon as 

 it is possible to work the soil, and both seeds and 

 sets planted. Subsequent cold weather, or even 

 the slight freezing of the ground that may ensue, 

 will do no harm. 



As the pressure of time will not be felt so much 

 now as later on, let us do this first work thoroughly 

 and without regard to the amount of labor expended 

 upon it. 



In the first place, we will not think of the plow 

 yet, but will rely upon the spading-fork for prepar- 

 ing the soil, and without regard to the question as to 

 whether we shall have enough manure to cover all 

 our land at the same rate, we will put on this piece 

 just as much of it as we can work under. The 

 manure pile must be worked over with a fork, and 

 all coarse stuff, stalks, long straw, etc., thrown out, 

 as we 'want nothing here that will be in the way of 

 the teeth of a fine rake. When enough has been 

 culled out and torn up fine with the fork, wheel it to 

 the desired spot and distribute it evenly to a depth 

 of say three inches. More would be better, but 

 this is as much as can be well worked in. Now 

 spade the ground up as deeply as the fork can be 

 driven, breaking it up and raking off at the same 

 time, leaving it smooth and mellow, and the surface 

 as fine as a steel rake can make it. 



Sets mast be planted to secure early green onions 

 for the table and for market, as the seeds are slow 

 to start and will not make edible bulbs before early 

 summer. White bottom sets are best, and the 

 largest ones should be sorted out and planted by 

 themselves, as they will be the first to get large 

 enough for use. By planting these separately they 

 may be gathered the more easily, and that por- 

 tion of the bed cleared quickly and put to other 

 use. 



A garden line should be used in planting all beds, 

 and the rows made absolutely straight and at equal 

 distance from each other. With the rows twelve 

 inches apart the conditions of economy of ground 

 and facility of cultivation are best harmonized ; the 

 sets should be pressed down well into the loose sur- 

 face soil, with the thumb and finger, about three 

 inches apart along the row. 



If intending to furnish a supply of green onions for 

 market, not less than a half-bushel of sets should 

 be planted. These would occupy about one-six- 

 teenth of an acre of ground, or say a strip 25 feet 

 wide by a little more than 100 feet long. 



I would not advise a beginner to do more than 

 experiment very slightly with growing onions from 

 seed. To attain any degree of success, every con- 

 dition must be most favorable ; the land must be 

 rich and free from weed seeds ; the crop must have 

 careful attention from the time the little green loops 

 appear above the ground until midsummer, and the 

 work required is of the sort that demands the ut- 

 most patience to accomplish successfully. But if 

 one wishes to experiment, let him sow a few rows of 

 the bed, putting the seed in by hand, two or three 

 to the inch, and cover it very lightly indeed with 

 fine soil. As onion seed is slow to start, it is well 

 to hasten its germination by soaking in tepid water 

 for a day ; then dry it off, so it may be separated 

 easily for sowing. A garden drill may be used for 

 these and other small seeds, and should be among 

 our stock of implements ; but at first I would ad- 

 vise sowing a little by hand, to become familiar 

 with the quantity of seed needed and the depth at 

 which to cover, etc. 



Onion growing from the seed is one of the most 

 profitable branches of horticulture in which one 

 having only a little land can engage. But there is 

 none in which such discouragement is apt to come 

 to the beginner as will prohibit any second attempt 

 in that line, and the most prolific cause for such 

 discouragement is in attempting too much in the 

 beginning. 



J. K. R. 



