Oct.] the KITCHEN GARDEN. 523 
or the next month, if the seeds are fresh and perfect, good crops 
may be expected to rise therefrom in March or April. For the 
methods of sowing and treating them, see the Kitchen Garden for 
March. 
Shallots, Chives, Garlic, and Rocambole. 
This is a very proper season to plant roots of shallots, chives, 
garlic, and rocambolej for the method of planting them, see page 
19r. 
Planting large Onions for producing Seed. 
For this purpose make choice of a piece of good, rich, light 
ground, which dig a full spade deep, breaking- it fine as you pro- 
ceed; when ready, select a number proportionate to the quantity 
of seed you intend to save, of the firmest, largest, and best shaped 
onions, and of the most desirable kinds, observing that each variety 
is to be planted separately and remote from any other. 
The middle of October, or any time between that and the end of 
the month is the most eligible time for planting, as the bulbs will 
have time to establish roots or fibres which will greatly support 
them during winter, and render them less liable to injury from frost 
than if planted at a later period. 
Having your ground dug and the roots in readiness, lay it out 
into four feet wide beds with a fourteen inch alley between each; 
then strain a line about six inches within the side of a bed, and 
with a spade throw out an opening or drill about five inches deep 
the length of the bed, in which lay the onions, seated handsomely 
on their bottoms, about nine inches distant one from the other,- then 
with a rake draw the earth into the opening so as to cover the bulbs 
from three to four inches above their crownsj remove the line a foot 
farther back, plant another row as before, and so continue till the 
first bed is planted containing four rows; after which proceed with 
the others in the same way to the end; then with a spade or shovel 
cast over the beds a slight dressing from the alleys, and finish by 
raking them neatly, drawing off the stones and any large lumps of 
earth from the surface. 
In March the leaves will appear above ground, after which they 
are to be kept perfectly free from weeds; many of the roots will 
produce three or four stalks each, which towards the latter part of 
May will have grown to their full height, when you must be pro- 
vided with a sufficient number of stakes, about four feet long, to 
drive into the ground in the rows of onions, at the distance of from 
six to eight feet stake from stake in each and every row, to which 
are to be fastened double lines of pack-thread, rope-yarn, or small 
cord, to run on each side of the stems of the onions a little below 
their heads, to support and prevent them from breaking down by 
wind and rain, and if those are tied together at intervals between 
stake and stake, they will the more eftectually support the plants. 
This is the more necessai^, as when the seeds are formed, the 
