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PLAN OF A PINE PIT. 
ARTICLE IV. 
THE CULTIVATION OF THE ONION IN PORTUGAL. 
BY JAMES TRIMMER, ESQ. F. L. S. 
Since mv communication on the cultivation of the onion in Portu- 
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gal under the signature of “J. T.” Vol. 1, p 724 I have been fur¬ 
nished by a friend, who has resided much in that country, with an 
account of the process which differs in some respects, from what I 
there stated. The onions are sown in Portugal about Febuary, and as 
soon as they are strong enough, transplanted nine inches apart every 
way. In planting them out, care is taken not to insert the bulb too 
deep into the earth so that not more than half of the bulb at most 
is covered by the ground and thus left free to enlarge itself. The 
soil chosen is the lightest and in the coolest situation that can be 
had, for either a heavy or a hot soil occasions rankness in the onions. 
The next point is irrigation and in that great perservance and at¬ 
tention is requisite; the whole bed has little channels nine 
inches apart cut between all the 
rows of onions both ways, figure 1. 
The bed is formed with a little 
slope, so that the water finds its 
way through all the channels, and 
thus each seperate onion is surrounded on every side hy water, and the 
roots continually feed with moisture which swells the bulb and rend¬ 
ers it of a milder flavour, qualities in which the onions grown in Portu¬ 
gal greatly exceed those raised in our own country. The onions are 
only watered by means of the channels, as the common mode of wa¬ 
tering hardens the surface of the ground in hot dry weather, and this 
rather retards the growth of the plants. James Trimmer. 
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ARTICLE V. 
PLAN OF A PINE PIT WITHOUT THE USE OF FIRE. 
BY T. J. KNOWLYS, ESQ. 
The following plan for a pinery in which pines may be grown and 
fruited to great perfection without the aid of fire heat, is also appli¬ 
cable to every purpose of the forcing department, grapes, strawber¬ 
ries, early melons and cucumbers, indeed I would recommend every 
hot-bed to be formed upon the same plan, its chief advantages are 
these : that in the depth of winter a constant and equal temperature 
may be kept up, that the manure employed is not wasted but pre¬ 
served by being protected from the rain and wind, which carry off 
