Februaby 24. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
405 
near the glass of a good greenhouse, and hy this method 
the most difficult may be propagated. 
For very I'ree growers a more simple and summary 
method may be adopted, hut it must be jmt into practice 
during the summer months. Choose a shady border, take 
away the common soil and place in its stead three or lour 
niches of good loam mi.'ced with sand. Make the cuttings 
in the same way as is described above, and plant tliem 
in rows across this prepared border. Water them, and 
leave them to their fate. The greater part of tliem will 
^ sU'ike root, and before the frost arrives, take them up 
carefully, and pot them, and remove them into a cold- 
frame till fresh roots are formed, then jilace them in the 
greenhouse among the rest, and give the same treatment. 
t)ne point must not be neglected, and that is to nip off 
the top of each cutting as soon as it is potted off, to 
cause the side buds to break, and thus form nice low 
i bushy plants. T. Appleby. 
I (To he conlimtcd.) 
THE ONION. 
From time immemorial it has been the common prac¬ 
tice of the cottager to sow his Onions as early in the 
season as the nature of the ground and his other duties 
j would permit. Against this rule nothing can be said; 
necessity occasions many delays wbich cannot in every 
case be overcome; but there are many instances whore 
a little perseverance miglit accomplish what an ordinary 
observer would regard as imjiossible, and of this class 
of duties is that of putting forth all the latent energies 
I to the forwarding of work which a busy spring is sure 
I to bring with it. On that score, therefore, wo urge on our 
1 cottage friends wlio have much garden work to do, to be 
at it betimes; what is done now need not bo done 
: again, in many instances; while much that is neglected 
j now can never be replaced. Witness the sad condition 
! of ground which has never been tilled the whole winter, 
and probably may bo lying idle, without deriving the 
1 benefit which the little winter we are likely to have may 
impart to it. It is not in every case that such neglect is 
tire result of sheer necessity ; a little determination would 
I often put the alfair on a ditfereut footing. Now tlic 
! object of the present chapter is not so much to urge the 
I necessity of endeavouring to make up for the delay 
which the elements have subjected all of us more or less 
to, but to make some observations on the sowing of one 
of the most important crops on ground which wo will 
suppose to have been prepared for it in the best way 
the season would allow. 
There are few vegetables can vie with the Onion for its 
antiquity and wide-spread popularity, and it has been 
i made to accommodate itself to a much greater diversity of 
I clime than many others; yet it must be admitted, that 
I countries ranging within the “ temperate” zone are its 
1 favourite habitat; and its culture has certainly attained 
: a degree of perfection in those countries washed by the 
I Mediterranean which we in vain look for elsewhere; 
I and, as may be supposed, its importance there is duly 
; valued. With us, the southern parts of the kingdom 
i certainly exceed the northern for bringing this pro- 
1 duction forward; and though wo often enough see a 
I bad crop even south of the Thames, yet the chances 
j there are much more favourable than those north of the 
Tweed, otlier things being the same; so that wo are 
I constrained to the belief that a much greater amount 
i of heat and light is necessary for the per.^ction of this 
I vegetable than for many others; although varieties suit- 
' able for a cold climate have been raised. 
I Onion seed will not ripen well in the “far north,” 
and the importation of that from a more southern dis¬ 
trict is attended with a sacrifice. The plant may, there¬ 
fore, be called an exotic, since it cannot reproduce itself 
in the way ordained by nature. Now, though we expect ! 
to sec the Onion grown more extensively than it has i 
hitherto been, and used, too, witli more freedom than 
heretofore, we should also like to see some hybrid varie- ; 
tics, possessing all the merits of those we have, with the 1 
additional one of resisting the cold ungenial climate of 
the north, so that we may be able to grow a crop with ' 
as much certainty of success in the jjarallel of the 58th 
degree of north latitude as in the bOth. This, however, 
is not likely to be accomplished if the i)rcscnt system of ' 
importing seed from Paris, and elsewhere, be continued, 
because the constitutional character of the plant cannot 
possibly undergo any change while the important 
process of “ seed saving ” is still confined to a climate 
so much more genial than the one in which it is sown. 
This, of course, must be the work of time, and no one 
can be sanguine enough to expect the seed-ripening 
process to travel northward with railway speed. How 
many generations have passed away since its cultivation 
was first directed to that quarter, from the temperate 
regions of Africa and southern Europe, where it is pre¬ 
sumed it was first found indigenous; but tbe science of 
the present day being more guided by correct prin¬ 
ciples, may efi'ect a change in much shorter time than 
was accomplished by our forefathers in their hap-hazard 
course. 
But to return to the Onion, whose progress seems less 
difficult to determine—we may say, that its capabilities 
of bearing cold seems to have undergone a gradual 
I increase, so that it is now grown at a higher northern 
latitude than it used formeiTy to be; and we have no 
doubt but it will, with judicious seed saving, &c., be i 
enabled to bear still more cold, as its culture becomes | 
bettor understood. This theory is, I know, opposed 
to that which points out the Potato as being killed by 
the first frost now, the same as in the days of Raleigh, 
who introduced it; but we are not to reason from that 
cause that the habit of the plant has not undergone a 
change; for most assuredly it has, otherwise it would 
not bo in a condition to furnish such fine crops of useful 
good tubers, as it often does (even now, in spire of 
disease) in tbe dampest and most unfavourable districts 
of the kingdom; and certainly Potatoes may bo culti¬ 
vated to advantage in localities where but a meagre 
1 crop of Onions is expected; but that the latter may 
be improved by carefully selecting seed from bulbs 
grown and perfected (for we cannot expect a good 
produce unless this be attended to) in a climate as 
near approaching to that in which the crop is sown 
as possible, is both likely and reasonable; we, there¬ 
fore, strongly advise the amateur residing in some un¬ 
favourable locality in the “far North,” to procure his 
seed from some one who can warrant it as having 
been grown as near his own neighbourhood as pos¬ 
sible. it is likely that he will have to pay a little more 
for it on that account, but this will be repaid him in the ; 
superior crop he will have, if other things be equally 
favourable ; and wo take this opportunity of saying that 
we are no advocate for “ cheap seeds,” in the general sense 
in which that term is understood. Seeds, to be genuine 
and good, cannot always bo grown cheap; and that 
ruinous competition in the trade, coupled with a sort of 
gullability on the part of buyers, has led to various 
things being ofl'ered for sale, at prices lower than those 
they can be grown for in a legitimate way ; and thougb 
Onion seed, as a whole, may be more pure than most I 
seeds, yet it is well known the ■well-keejying of the pro¬ 
duce depends, in a great measure, on the seed having 
been saved as near home as possible. Foreign seed is 
notorious for the bad keeping qualities of its produce. 
This has led many growers to grow their own seed in 
those favourable districts of England where it will 
ripen well. 
We will suppose the amateur to have procured “ good ^ 
