July 26, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
05 
26 
Th 
Eastbourne and Stoke on-Trent Shows. 
27 
P 
Quekett Club at 8 p.M. 
28 
s 
Royal Botanic Society at 3.45 p.M. 
29 
SUN 
10th Sunday a ft e it trinity. 
30 
JI 
31 
TV 
Buckingham Show. 
1 
W 
Warwick Show. 
FIRST-RATE ONIONS IN A SECOND-RATE 
LOCALITY. 
PIEN this appears in print the gardener's year 
will just be commencing; indeed, in some 
senses will have already begun. Not very 
much can he done now towards securing 
good crops of fruits or vegetables or a display 
of flowers for the current season ; hut now 
or never must the foundation he laid for next 
year’s Strawberries, Cabbages, Onions, Roses, 
Carnations, bedding plants, and all or nearly all else beside. 
That being so, a few words on Onion-growing will be season¬ 
able. 
Onions are sown at two very distinct seasons of the year— 
in July and August, and from February to April. The exact 
time depends greatly on the climate. In the north of Eng¬ 
land or in Scotland the middle of July is not too early, 
especially in cold seasons ; but in the south of England the 
seed may or may not be sown a week or tw r o later. When 
sown too early there is a tendency in the crop to run to seed 
in spring, especially on hot poor soils. When sown too late 
the plants do not gain strength enough to stand over severe 
winters. 
While first-rate Onions cannot he grown on poor soil, rich 
soil is not suitable for sowing in at this season, as the plants 
are on such soil certain to grow much too strong, with the 
certainty of perishing during winter should the weather 
prove severe. Heavy clay grows the best Onions ; hut if the 
seed is sown in autumn on light soil well firmed down, and in 
spring the plants are transferred to heavy rich soil, the best 
results may confidently be looked for. If a choice of soils 
cannot be had, and the soil he only heavy clay, the beds 
should be partly raised in order to secure dryness, and some 
light material incorporated with the surface. 
Freshly applied manure is not good for autumn-sown 
Onions. A far better way of preparing the soil is to apply 
manure liberally for some early crop uucli as Potatoes, 
Cauliflowers, Turnips, Lettuces, &c., and to simply fork up 
the soil after these are "removed, pulverising it thoroughly 
and afterwards firming it moderately before sowing. Onions 
will not do well on a loose soil. Decidedly the best way is 
to sow in rows, although many good growers sow in beds 
4 or 5 feet wide with alleys between. When in rows 
weeds are much more easily kept under, and alleys are dis¬ 
pensed with. 
In the case of spring-sown Onions the soil should he 
very thoroughly prepared. It should be dug two spades 
deep at least. In a good climate manure should be incor¬ 
porated with the upper 18 inches of soil if the very finest 
Onions are wanted. When the climate is wet, northern, 
cold, not more than the upper 6 inches should be made 
rich, and for reasons -which will he given. In a good climate 
there is little fear of the plants not bulbing, in which case 
the better the feeding the finer the Onions. In a wet cold 
climate a rich soil combined with continual damp and a 
deficiency of sun will cause a rank growth of “ thick necks,” 
which often fail to bulb at all or produce bulbs that will not 
keep. When the upper 4 inches only is made rich under 
such climatic conditions the plants start vigorously, but 
afterwards, when the roots get beyond the manure, halt and 
begin bulbing. 
Too often the reverse of this is seen. Manure is dug or 
trenched in deeply, and the surface soil is poor. Seeds sown 
on this germinate well enough perhaps, but the resulting 
plants stand long and make little progress. This is true of 
all kinds of plants. In consequence of this lingering some 
precious weeks early in the season are lost. But by-and-by 
the roots reach the manure, and the plants go in for a spell 
of growing just when those better managed have made their 
growth and are beginning to form bulbs. Under such con¬ 
ditions the hardy and beautiful little Queen Onions are 
seldom bigger than Cherries ; but when the first young roots 
find food in abundance, the moment they push from the seed, 
instead of being obliged to spend their strength making long 
roots to go in search of it, they develope into useful Onions. 
When by reason of the climate we dare only manure the 
very surface, so that we may induce rapid spring growth 
followed by a kind of premature bulbing, useful, but not 
what may be called first-rate Onions, may be produced. 
To do so requires that some out-of-the-way plan should bo 
tried. The climate must be assisted, and as many weeks 
as possible added to the growing season. The summer heat 
is sufficiently high even in the most northern parts of these 
islands to grow the best of Onions in ordinary seasons, but 
north of the Trent summer is too short; hence the necessity 
for securing what we have called premature bulbing by a 
judicious placing of the manure, so securing not large but 
very useful Onions of good quality, or Onions as good as cau 
be grown anywhere by a lengthening of the summer, or 
practically so. 
For long it has been the habit to sow in autumn and 
transplant to rich deeply dug soil in spring. By this means 
large Onions are produced which ripen early. Such, how¬ 
ever, are almost always very coarse, and cannot be regarded 
as first-class. The cook despises them, and they will not 
keep. One reason for autumn-sown Onions being coarse is 
that hitherto only such coarse kinds as the Rocca and 
Tripoli have been sown in autumn under the impression 
that these alone were fit for the purpose. But this is not so ; 
for many, indeed most of our finer Onions which are usually 
sown in spring, may with confidence also be sown in autumn, 
and much better Onions thereby be the result. Still, 
autumn-sown Onions are coarse. Sometimes, too, an ex¬ 
ceptionally severe winter kills them, and spring-sowing must 
be resorted to. 
A good old plan, not now so much practised as it with 
benefit might be, is to sow ordinary varieties thickly on poor 
soil in May or even June. The crowding and the poverty 
cause these to ripen off in autumn when not much larger, 
often, indeed, smaller, than peas. Planted in spring as 
Shallots are on firm rich soil, these often grow into splendid 
bulbs which ripen early. Even the Onions which are too 
small for use from the ordinary crops may be so planted, 
especially when severe weather has damaged or destroyed the 
winter Onions. They will then lie of service in the kitchen 
before spring-sown Onions are ready ; but they seldom make 
good bulbs for keeping, being almost certain to run to 
seed. True, if the seed stems are pinched out bulbs will 
form but not of the finest kind. Sometimes, however, they 
are invaluable, especially on light soils, for neither maggota 
nor mildew touch them. 
These methods of stealing a march on time, as it were, 
have been practised for generations, and success more or 
less certain has followed the practice. More recently, in 
Scotland, the plan of sowing in heat has been adopted with 
splendid results. Those of your readers who have visited 
the international exhibitions held in the north in recent years 
will doubtless have wondered at the Scotch Onions as much 
perhaps as at Scotch Leeks. These Onions have been nursed 
on, in pots probably, bat certainly under glass. It is the 
