114 THE AMATEURS KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Onion, or “ scallion,” ranks high with many who require salad 
onions in winter ; but we could never find any use for it, 
always having plenty of silvery little onions from autumn 
sowings, which are certainly preferable to the rather puffy 
green blades of this variety, which does not produce bulbs. 
However, the Welsh onion is very hardy, and may be very 
useful in cold climates, where the Tripoli or Spanish onions 
refuse to stand the winter. Moreover, if the green blades are 
desired in early spring for salads, as in many houses they are, 
there will always be found plenty rising from old bulbs in the 
store ; and while these are fresh and crisp, they are excellent, 
both for soups and salads. 
The Potato Onion is a serviceable cottage garden root, 
but of comparatively small importance to those who cultivate 
a kitchen-garden in a systematic manner. It is the rule in 
the West of England to plant the bulbs on the shortest day, 
and take them up on the longest. They may, however, be 
planted as late as March, but as they keep badly, the earlier 
they are in the ground the better. They require the ground 
to be well dug and in good heart. The rows should be one 
foot asunder, and the bulbs six inches apart in the row, and 
the best way to plant is to lay down the line and insert the 
bulbs with the aid of a dibber, every bulb being planted deep 
enough to have a firm grip in the soil without being quite 
covered. The hoe should be plied frequently between the 
rows, but in such a manner as not to inflict any injury on the 
roots, and a mere skin of earth may be drawn to the base of 
the green blade once or twice during the summer. 
The Tree Onion produces a double crop, one consisting of 
small bulbs at the top of the tall stem, the other of large bulbs 
similar to those of the potato onion, at the root. Both root 
and top bulbs may be planted for a crop, but the root bulbs 
are the best. Treat in precisely the same way as the potato 
onion, but do not plant before the end of February, for if a 
severe frost occurs the roots may be destroyed. As soon as 
the stems rise, provide laths or tarred rope, or some other 
cheap and rough support for them, for if they lay on the 
ground slugs and snails will eat through the stem, and the 
development of the top bulbs will be arrested. When the 
stems begin to turn yellow, cut them close over the ground, 
and lay them with their crowns untouched on boards or cloths 
in the sun to dry, and after a few days tie them in bundles, 
