THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 31, 185y. 
lit) 
wlion blanched the stems are stewed and served up with 
white sauce, like Celery. For the main crop sow now 
thick ; and when the plants have attained a sufficient size, 
draw drills on a border that has been well dug and dunged 
in the autumn previous. Let the drills be a foot apart, 
aud the plants six inches apart, in the row. Choose 
showery weather for this operation. Plant deep in order 
to have a longer blanched stem. Hoe and stir the ground 
frequently between the rows, and water freely in dry 
weather. By this mode of culture, this herb will prove 
to be very superior to such as are grown in beds in the 
ordinary way. 
Mabjobam {Origanum marjorana and O. Onites). —The 
former is an annual, and the latter a hardy perennial; both 
much used as relishing herbs, in soups, broths, stuffings, 
and forced meat. The first is the more valued. In warm 
soils, the annual sweet Marjoram may be sown either in 
shallow drills or broadcast on a warm border. In colder 
soils and situations, it should be sown in spring on a 
gentle hotbed, and transplanted in May or June, on a 
warm border, dry aud light. Those sown in the open air 
should be thinned out to six inches apart. The perennial 
may be planted in any open place, and is increased by 
division. These herbs may be used green; but to preserve 
them for winter use, draw the sweet Marjoram up in 
August or September, cut off the roots, and hang the 
tops up in a dry room for winter use. The other should 
be cut off at about the same time, and treated in a similar 
manner. 
Mint ( Mentha viridis). —A hardy perennial, native of 
Britain, in marshy situations, but not very common. 
There are two species more, but they are not used in 
cookery—viz.. Pepper Mint and Penny Royal. Spear 
Mint is the common name of this kind, and is used largely 
in soups, sauces, and to give a flavour to Green Peas. 
Even the flavour of young Cabbage is much improved by 
a few sprigs of Spear Mint boiled therewith. It is pro¬ 
pagated easily, either by laying the long running shoots 
in drills, or by planting the young tops in May, in beds 
six inches apart from plant to plant every way. Spear 
Mint may be easily forced to obtain young shoots early, 
by placing the runnel’s in a shallow pan, or on a gentle 
hotbed, as early as they may be required. 
Onion {AUium cep a). —A hardy biennial, much es¬ 
teemed in this country, and in Spain and Portugal, and 
in almost every part of Europe. Its uses are well known. 
It is eaten raw in both its young state and when full 
grown; also in sauces, pickles, and in soups, stews, 
and for stuffings, and roasted in the oven or before the 
fire. No vegetable, with the exception of the Potato, 
is so universally in use for so long a season. My first 
situation in gardening was with a market-gardener at 
Leeds, in Yorkshire ; aud there I observed tlnm, and ever 
since, more Onions grown than in any other part of Great 
Britain. Cart-loads upon cart-loads of this savoury herb, 
both in a green and dry state, according to the season, 
are brought to the market twice a-week, and are all dis¬ 
posed of at remunerative prices. There are numerous 
varieties—such as Deptford, Strasburgh, White Portugal, 
Brown Spanish, Globe, James’s Keeping, Blood-red, 
Silver-skinned for pickling, Potato Onion, Tree Onion, 
Tripoli, Lisbon, Welsh, &c. The best are the Strasburgh, 
Deptford, and White Portugal, for spring sowing; and 
the Tripoli, Lisbon, and Welsh, for autumn sowing in 
August. The culture of the Onion is pretty well known, 
even to the poorest cottager; so I need not enlarge upon 
it. I may, however, state that it does not quite yield a 
productive crop on wet or thin, dry soils ; but in a good 
deep loam, with a dry subsoil, it yields abundantly if the 
ground is well manured. I would always recommend 
the sowing in drills, in preference to broadcast, so gene¬ 
rally adopted. To obtain large Onions—such as were im¬ 
ported—sow about the 12th of August, and early in spring 
prepare a plot of rich ground, and transplant them in 
April or May in rows, taking care not to plant them 
I deeper than the actual roots. Water freely, and keep 
| the ground well hoed. They will produce large, sound 
bulbs, which will be mild in flavour, and keep well. The 
same method will answer well with Onions sown in a 
gentle hotbed, and transplanted at the same time; but 
this latter method is more troublesome. The largest 
Onions in this country were obtained from the variety 
named Tripoli. The Welsh Onion does not bulb : hence, 
if sown, always to be gathered and used in its green 
state. The Onion, to be kept for winter use, should be 
drawn up as soon as the tops are yellow, and laid on the 
ground to dry and harden. They may then either be 
stored away on shelves in a dry, cool room, or be tied up 
in bunches, and hung up to the rafters. In Cheshire 
the market-gardeners hang up these bunches against the 
east or west walls of their houses. I saw some hanging 
j in such situations, where they had hung all the winter, 
last March, and they appeared as sound as the day they 
were placed there. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 
(Continued from page 107.) 
Altuough plants will not grow upon soils composed of the 
earths only, yet these havo a great influence over plants, not 
merely by their secondary powers of regulating the amount of 
moisture, heat, &c., but by entering directly into the constitution 
of the plant; for it is a result of experience, to which we know 
of no exception, that a plant contains more of any given earth, if 
grown in a soil where it predominates, than if grown in a soil 
where it is in less profusion. We have already stated some 
examples; but the fact was first pointed out by Saussure, who 
found that the Rhododendron ferrugineum, when growing on the 
calcareous formation of Mount Jura, contained hi its ashes 13.25 
per cent, of carbonate of lime, but only 0.75 of silica. On the 
other hand, the ashes of the same plant, from the granitic dis¬ 
trict of Mount Brevere, contained, 2.0 per cent, of silica, but 
only 16.75 of carbonate of lime. 
However varying in the proportions, yet every soil is composed 
of silica, alumina, lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, salts, and 
animal and vegetable remains. The most important consideration 
is, what proportions those are which constitute a fertile soil. 
The beau ideal of a fertile soil is one which contains such a 
| proportion of decomposing matter, and of moisture, as to keep 
the crop growing upon it always supplied with food in a state fit 
for its consumption, yet not so superabundantly as to render the 
plants too luxuriant, if the object in view is the production of 
flowers or seed ; but, for the production of those plants whose 
foliage is the part in request, as Spinach and Rhubarb, or of 
edible bulbous roots, as Onions, which have a small expanse of 
leaves, so as to be almost entirely dependent upon the soil for 
nourishment, there can scarcely be an excess of decomposed 
matter presented to their roots. Spinach, on rich soils, will yield 
successive cuttings the same as Asparagus ; the latter, especially, 
demands abundant applications of nourishment to its roots; 
since, like the Onion, it has little foliage and slightly fibrous 
roots, at the same time that, like the Spinach, it has to afford re¬ 
peated cuttings ; and thus, requiring a repeated development of 
parts, needs abundant food in its immediate neighbourhood. 
A soil with a just proportion of decomposing matter will be 
capable of absorbing moisture during the droughts of summer 
J from the atmosphere, for the most fertile soils are always the most 
absorbent: yet it must not be too retentive of moisture, which is 
the case in such soils as contain too much alumina; neither 
must it too easily part with moisture—a fault which is a character¬ 
istic of those soils which contain an excess of silica. A subsoil 
of gravel mixed with clay is the best, if not abounding in oxide 
of iron ; for clay alone retains the moisture on the arablo surface 
in too great an excess ; and sand, on the contrary, carries it 
away too rapidly. Chalk is a cool subsoil; and if the surface soil 
is of average quality and depth, crops upon it are not liable 
to suffer from drought. It is, however, evident, that to insure 
these good qualities in any soil at all seasons is impossible; and 
it is as manifest that a soil that would do so in one climate wovdd 
fail in another, if the mean annual temperature of them differs, 
as well as the amount in inches of rain which falls during the 
! same period. For example: hi the western parts of England 
