Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/90

 They are then planted out in drills for a full crop as above. may be grown from the seed in one season, fully large enough for culinary purposes, and where the soil is of a deep mellow loam, on a dry bottom, which is most genial to the growth of this bulb, they will grow equally as fine as those that have taken two seasons to mature. Tor this purpose, sow the seed very thinly, (half an inch apart is thick enough, and an ounce of seed will he ample supply for a family)—in drills nine inches apart, and as shallow as they possibly can be drawn. read the seed in with the foot, to make it firm. Sprinkle a yery small portion of fine earth over the seed, and finish by raking it evenly. Within three weeks the Onions will make their appearance, when, if many weeds rise among them, they must be cleared with a small hoe, observing not to hoe deep, for the more the Onion rises out of the ground, it is the finer, and keeps better. As soon as the plants are three inches high, thin them out to two inches apart. If the weather is moist, the thinnings may be transplanted into ether ground. They too will attain a full size, but observe, in planting, to put the roots only under ground, ‘The plants being now two inches apart, as they grow, every alternate one should be pulled for immediate use, either for soups or salads, leaving the crop four inches apart in the row. Nothing further will be required until they are pulled up for drying, except the keeping down of weeds, which must be strictly attended to.

In moist seasons, Onions are apt to grow (what is termed} thick-necked; in such eases they should, about the end of July, be gently bent down with the handle of the hoe, or the head of a wooden rake, which will check their rapid growth, and cause them to bulb sooner. About the middle of September, sow a row or two of Onion-seed for early Spring use, before ~ any other green salading or seasoning can be obtained; the plants will be four inches high before Winter sets in severely, when they should have a little rough litter thrown over them, or a row of Spruce branches stuck among them for protection.