ONION. 
Dr Deane and Mr. Nicholson, author of the Farmer’s Assistant, cordemn 
the practice of beating or breaking down the tops of onions in order to in¬ 
crease the size of the root. Mr. Nicholson observed, “ The practice is un¬ 
doubtedly injurious, as we have seen confirmed by experiment. 77 
“ Culture of the potato onion. —This variety, erroneously supposed to have 
been brought from Egypt by the British army about 1805, was grown in 
Driver's nursery, in 1796, and has been known in Devonshire for upwards 
of twenty years It is thus cultivated at Arundel Castle by Maher:— 
Having thoroughly prepared the ground, and formed it into beds four feet 
wide, * I draw lines the whole length, three to each bed, and, with the end 
of the rake-handle, make a mark (not a drill) on the surface ; on this mark 
I place the onions, ten inches apart; I then cover them with leaf-mould, 
rotten dung, or any other light compost, just so that the crowns appear ex¬ 
posed. Nothing more is necessary to be done until they shoot up their tops; 
then, on a dry day, they are earthed up, like potatoes, and kept free from 
weeds, until they are taken up. In the west of England, where this kind 
of onion is much cultivated, I understand that it is the practice to plant on 
the shortest day, and take up on the longest. The smallest onions used for 
planting swell, and become very fine and large, as well as yield off-sets; the 
middle-sized and larger bulbs produce greater clusters. 7 — Hort. Trans, vol. 
iii, p. 305. 
“Dymond states (Hort. Trans, vol. iii, p. 306), that in Devonshire it is 
planted in rows, twelve inches apart, and six inches 7 distance in the row; 
that the plants are earthed up as they grow, and that the smaller bulbs yield 
a greater increase than the larger. A similar practice is adopted by some 
Scotch cultivators.— Caled. Hort. Mem. vol. i. p. 344, and vol. iv, p. 216. 
u Wedgewood does not earth up, and jfinds his bulbs acquire a much larger 
size than when that practice is adopted.— Hort. Trans, vol. iii, p. 403. Tne 
fact is, as we have observed in generalizing on the subject of earthing up, 
surface-bulbs, as the onion, turnip, &c , are always prevented from attaining 
their full size by that operation, whatever they may gain in other respects. 77 
— Loudon. 
Use. —“The properties of onions in no respect differ from those of 
garlic excepting that the former are less pungent, and are, therefore, 
more generally used for culinary purposes. Many persons, however, d;s- 
like them on account of the strong and disagreeable smell which they com¬ 
municate to the breath. But this inconvenience is obviated by eating a few 
raw leaves of parsley, immediately after partaking of onions, the scent of 
which is thus nearly removed, and they are, at the same time, rendered 
more easy of digestion. Vinegar also answers the same purpose. 77 — Horn 
Encyc. 
