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ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE UNDERGROUND ONION IN DEVONSHIRE. 
the antliei' on each branch, may be compared to a bilobed leaf; the double stamen of Cruciferse, each 
bearing a two-celled anther, to a bifoliolate sessile leaf ; the treble stamina of Fumariaceas to ternately 
digitate leaves ; and aU other cases of what is termed collateral dedupHcation may thus be referred to 
the ordinary ramifications of leaves, ■without the necessity of the creation of a new term to explain 
them. The so-caUed transverse dedupHcation is evidently a very different process, and, if really such 
as it is supposed to be, alone deserves the name of dedupUcation ; but, being totally at a loss to find 
anything analogous in the ordinai-y stem-leaves, we have endeavom-ed to explain it by other more normal 
processes. 
There is no doubt that in the case of many polyandi-ous flowers, such as Hj'pericum, several Tiliaceae, 
and probably a considerable number of Mimoseaj and Swai'tziene, a number of stamens occupy the 
place of one; and that, in Malvaceae, the stamens and petals together occupy that of the jDctals only; 
but might not this be better explained, by the heath-like development of a fascicle of leaves in the 
axilte of the petals in Malvaceas, and in those of the stammal leaves in other cases, the subtending 
leaves being represented by the sterile stamens in Luliea, and by the large outer stamens in Mollia 
and Swartzea. 
A greater difliculty may ocom- in the case of Rhamnece and ByttneriaceEe, where Dr Gray is un- 
doubtedly right in considering the stamens as belonging to the coroUine verticil ; but, in this case, it 
appears to us quite as conformable to the ordinary eoui'se to consider the stamen as an axillary produc- 
tion, as to resort to a theory which has no analogy in stem leaves. 
With regard to the inner appendages of the petals of Ranuuculacea?, Caryophylleoe, Sapindaceae, and 
so many Gamopetalas, upon which the theory of dedupHcation has been chiefly based, it apjjcars to us 
that they are, in most cases, if not always, deformed glands ; their gradual passage into anthers in some 
flowers, theu' position on the principal veins of the petals, and, in some cases, their real glandular 
nature, tending to confii'm the supposition. 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE UNDERGROUND ONION, IN DEVONSHIRE. 
MVERY one who has been in Devonshire, within the last quarter of a century, vrill doubtless have 
experienced some surprise, not unmingled with gratification, at seeing the Potato Onion so gene- 
rally and so well cultivated there. 
This Onion is pretty extensively grown in Scotland also, and the Devonians, Klce their northern 
coadjutors, e^ddently take a greater shai'e of interest in its management than is usually accorded it 
throughout England ; so that, judging from the comparative unfrequenoy of its occurrence in gardens, 
the undoubted utiHty and proHficacy of the underground Onion would seem to be at a discount, or 
rather, not so extensively recognised as it deserves to be. 
To those amateui'S who may happen to be altogether unacquainted with this Onion, we will fii'st 
premise, that the crop is never obtained like Onion crops in general — from seed, but is produced by 
the formation and multiplication of offsets or young bulbs upon the parent root, planted for the obtain- 
ment of a crop. 
If it be a mistake to suppose that alliaceous vegetables can be grown on too deep, or, comparatively 
speaking, too rich a soU, this observation is especially applicable to the Potato Onion, for which a good 
deep soil of sub-tenacious, rather than of too friable a character, richly incorporated with weU. decom- 
posed hot-bed manure is indispensable ; and, although a soil not natm'ally Hght be the best, a thorough 
deep trencliing and pulverization by fi-ost will be found lughly conducive to good culture. 
In Devonshh-e, there is a great extent of rich, mellow, sandy land, partially intermingled with 
marl, resting on a dry sub-soil of rocky sand, and on this staple, when richly artificially manru-ed, the 
Potato Onion thi-ives amazingly well ; and, moreover, as evincing that too ieep a soil could not well 
be selected for it, I may mention that an instance of Onion roots descending perpendicularly to the 
depth of six feet, or more, once came under my observation in that county, when a section of the 
grooird whereon the crop grew was laid open, or cut down, because the crop was, for the purpose of 
examination, grown on the " ridge and fm-row" principle. 
The crop was the flinest I ever saw, from which it may be inferred, that although the under-ground 
Onion may succeed tolerably well, on comparatively shallow ground, a good depth of soil, resting on a 
substratum, either naturally dry or rendered so artificially by deep draining, will be fomid the basis 
J of its successful cultivation. "^ 
If the produce is wanted early a portion of south-wall border, if it can be spai-ed for such a crop, is > 
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