The mode in which Mr Knight manages his autum nal crops of this pea may here be mentioned, because it generally has the effect of keeping them free from the attack of mildew. The seed for these crops is sown, at intervals of ten days, from the beginning to the end of June. The ground is dug over in the usual way, and the spaces to be occupied by the future rows of peas are well soaked with water. The mould upon each side is then collected, so as to form ridges seven or eight inches above the pre vious level of the ground, and these ridges are well watered. The seeds are now sown, in single rows, along the tops of the ridges. The plants grow vi gorously, owing to the depth of soil and abundant moisture. If dry weather at any time set in, water is supplied profusely once a week. In this way the plants continue green and vigorous, resisting mil dew, and not yielding till subdued by frost.
hitches astieft. Mouse-Peas.
Under this name, a species of Lathyrus (L. tube Mouse-Pais.
rosus) is by some persons cultivated for the sake of the tuberous roots, which being perhaps two inches long, and having a fibre at one extremity, may easily be fancied to resemble mice. When the tubers are of the size mentioned, they are considered fit for use. They are cleaned, and, being firm and hard, boiled for a long time, two hours or more, till a fork will pass through them : they are then dried, and slight ly roasted ; when they are served up in a cloth, in the manner of chesnuts. They are merely calculat ed for the dessert, and in Holland and Flanders they are not uncommonly used for that purpose.
Mr Dickson, of Croydon, has described the most approved mode of cultivation. (Load. Hort. Trans. Vol. IL) He recommends the forming of an op propriate, border for the plant, inclosed with brick work, twenty inches deep, and also paved with bricks in the bottom. This bed is filled with a light but rich soil. In this way the roots are re strained from penetrating deep, which they would otherwise do; and the formation of tubers is at the same time promoted. The plant is easily propagat ed by the tubers, which should be placed six inches apart, and three inches below the surface. The bed should not be disturbed till the second. year ; after which it will continue productive for a long time, if dug in regular course from one end, leaving the smaller tubers to produce a succession of plants, and adding some good rich soil every year.
Onions.
The cultivation of the onion has been greatly im proved by the practice of transplanting. This mode has been recommended in England by Mr Knight, and in Scotland by Mr Brown at Perth, and Mr Macdonald at Dalkeith.
Mr Knight's plan consists in sowing the seed, pre ferring the variety called White Portugal Onion, at the usual spring season, thick under the shade of a tree, and in poor soil. In the autumn the bulbs are
small, scarcely exceeding in size the dimensions of large peas, but of firm texture. They are taken from the ground and preserved till the succeeding spring, when they are planted at equal distances from each other, perhaps six inches in every direc tion. The plants thus produced differ in no respects from those raised immediately from seed, but in pos sessing greater strength and vigour, owing to the quantity of previously generated sap being greater in the bulb than in the seed. In this way, two of our short and variable summers produce the same effect as one long and bright summer in Spain or Portugal, and bulbs are procured equal in size and flavour to those that are imported.
Mr Brown's plan, which he has occasionally prac tised with a part of his own crop for twenty years past, is nearly the same as Mr Knight's, only he does not sow under the shade of trees, with the view of get ting small bulbs ; he merely collects, from the ordi nary onion crop, all the small bulbs, from the size of a pea to that of a hazel-nut (which would otherwise be thrown away as refuse) ; and having kept these over winter, they are planted in the spring. If the sown beds at any time fail, he can always trust, he finds, to the transplanted rows forming a reserve.
Mr Macdonald confines his operations to one sum mer. He sows in February, sometimes on a slight hot-bed, sometimes merely under a glass-frame. Between the beginning of' April and the middle of the same month, according to the state of the wea ther, he transplants the young seedlings, in rows about eight inches asunder, and at the distance of four or five inches from each other in the row. Immediate ly previously,to planting, the roots of the seedlings are dipped in a puddle prepared with one part of soot to three parts of earth. The crop being in regular rows, weeds can be destroyed with the hoe in place of the hand, and the bulbs thus enjoy the great and well known advantage of having the stir face-earth frequently stirred. Onions of large size are thus produced, equal in firmness or flavour to foreign ones. It is found by experience that the transplanted onions remain free from wire-worm or rot, while those left in the original seed-bed are fre quently much injured by both. The beds destined for these transplanted onions are deeply delved over in the beginning of April, and many farm may pro bably thus be destroyed ; and the plants growing with superior vigour, in consequence of the repeated hoeings, must be better able to resist the attacks of insects. Possibly the soot-puddle may also be be neficial, by tending to repel the larva' till the bulbs be too strong to be attacked. Mr Macdonald finds the Strasburg or Deptford onion answer equally well for transplanting as the Portugal or Reading onion.