331. The turnip-radish is sown in February- or March, and the plants are thinned out to about six inches with a small hoe. The red and the white queen radish, and the black Spanish radish, are sown from the middle of July to the middle of September, and thinned out in the same man ner. They are fit for use in the beginning of September ; and before hard frost comes on, they are generally taken up, and stored among sand like carrots, the tops being cut close off : in this way they are ready for use throughout the winter.
The dwarf early short-topped red, and early short-top ped salmon radishes, arc easily forced on a hot-bed: if the seed be sown by the middle of November, the radishes will be fit for drawing by the end of December, and will afford a supply for a month. Care must be taken to have a suffi ciently thick layer of earth, to hinder them from penetrat ing into the dung.
The seed of any of the sorts is easily procured by trans planting a few of the best and most characteristic plants of the respective kinds: the sorts should be placed as far from each other as possible, to prevent commixture of pollen.
It may be noticed, that the young and green seed-pods are sometimes used for pickling ; and are perhaps scarcely inferior to nasturtiums.
- It may also be mentioned, that Delaunay, in his Bon Jar dinier, 1815, describes a new sort of turnip-radish, intro duced of late years into France from Egypt ; it is remark able for being of a yellow colour. It has more poignancy than any of the kinds, except the black ; and experience has shewn that it may be produced, in the Paris gardens, at almost any season of the year.
its fistulae leaves, swelling stalk, and bulbous root. Neither the native country of the plant, nor the date of its intro duction into this island, are known. There are several va rieties in cultivation. One of the chief of these is the Strasburgh, which is of an oval shape, attains a considera ble size, and keeps very long. The Deptford onion may be considered as a subvariety of the Strasburgh. The white Spanish onion grows to a large size, and is of a flat shape. Allied to this is the large silver-skinned onion, the most beautiful of all the varieties: the small silver.skinned is preferred for pickling. The globe onion is likewise much cultivated, being a good keeper ; and the Reading and the Portugal are frequently sown.
333. For the principal crop, the seed is sown in Februa ry or the beginning of March, according to the state of the weather, and the dryness of the ground. The onion de lights to grow on light but rich ground, which has not been recently manured : it should be well delved, broken fine, and exactly levelled. In heavy land, it is thought better to sow in the end of March or beginning of April. The seed is either sown at broad-cast or in shallow drills ; a very slight covering of earth is given, and the bed is merely smoothed with the rake ; the more that onions grow on the surface, the better they prove. The usual proportion of seed is about an ounce to a pole of land. Market gar deners sometimes sow thicker, with the view of drawing young onions, which are called cullings, or in Scotland sy bies (from ciboules.) A small quantity of lettuce seed is frequently sown along with onions ; and very fine lettuce plants are thus procured, without materially injuring the onion crop. A first hoeing is given when the plants have advanced three or four inches in growth, and they are then thinned out with the hand to about four inches apart. An other hoeing is given, generally about a month or six weeks afterwards, according to the kind of season ; and the broad cast plants are then singled out to about six inches square, and those in drills to about four or five inches in line. Af ter the onions have begun to swell, the hoe cannot be used, and any large weeds are drawn out with the hand. If the weather be dry at the time of thinning, a plentiful water ing is necessary for settling the earth to the roots of the remaining plants. About the end of August the crop is ripe, which is known by the leaves falling down. The onions are then drawn, and laid out on a dry spot of ground, such as a gravel walk, and occasionally turned. In a fortnight they are generally round sufficiently firm and dry for keeping ; and they are then stored in a garret or loft, (never in a cellar,) and excluded as much as may be from the air. They are still very apt to grow ; and to pre vent this, some are at the pains to select the finest bulbs, and singe the radicles with a hot iron. in many places they are strung in bunches, and suspended from the roof of the loft.