334. The secondary crop of onions is sown in August or the beginning of September, and called the Michaelmas or winter crop. They are thinned in the usual way ; and weeds must be carefully kept down, as they spring up very rapidly at this season of the year. In the spring months, when the keeping onions fail, part of these autumn sown onions are drawn for use : the remainder form bulbs, which are ready in the early part of summer. In the course of May, however, some bulbs will be observed pushing a flower-stem : these are cast out ; and to check this ten dency, and divert the growth to the bulb, the crop is laid over, as it is called. This operation is described by Nicol in his " Kalendar." Two people, with a rod or rake handle, walk along the alleys, holding the rod so as to strike the stems an inch or two above the bulb, and bend them flat down. Winter onions, thus managed, may be Onion.
332. The Onion (411iunz Celia, L. Ilexandria Monogy aia Asphodeli, Juss.) is a biennial plant, well marked by taken up about the end of June, and are generally firm and keep long.
In order to procure firm diminutive bulbs, proper for pickling, some seed should be sown late in the spring, perhaps about the middle of April, in light and very poor land. It should be sown pretty thick ; and the seedlings need scarcely be thinned, unless where they rise absolute ly in clusters. The bulbs thus treated are generally of a proper size for pickling in August. The small silver skinned variety, it has been already mentioned, is well adapted for this purpose.
It may here be noticed, that such of the keeping onions as have sprouted in the loft are sometimes planted in a bed early in the spring, especially by market-gardeners. In a short time they appear fresh, throwing out long green leaves. They are then sent to market, tied in small bunches, and sold as a substitute for scallions, and under that name.
335. It has long been known, that young seedling onions might be transplanted with success. Even Worlidge, in his little treatise on gardening,* published in the end of the 17th century, praises this mode. The practice has of late years been revived, and recommended in England by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. and in Scotland by Mr James Macdonald, gardener to the Duke of Buccleueh at Dal keith. Mr Knight's plan is, to sow the onion seed, at the or dinary autumn season, thick under the shade of a tree, and to transplant the bulbs the following spring: he thus procures onions equal in size and other qualities to those imported from Spain. Mr Macdonald, again, transplants the young spring sown onions. He sows in February, sometimes on a slight hot-bed, or merely under a glass frame ; and be tween the beginning of April and the middle of the month, according to the state of the weather, he transplants the young seedlings, in drills about eight inches asunder, and at the distance of four or five inches from eath other in the row. It is evident, that, by thus having the crop in regular
rows, hoeing may not only supersede hand-weeding, but may be more effectually performed. The bulbs, thus en joying the great and well-known advantages of having the surface-earth frequently stirred, swell to a much larger size than those not transplanted ; while in firmness and fla vour they are certainly not inferior to foreign onions. At the same time the transplanted onions remain free from wire-worm or rot, while those left in the original seed-bed are frequently much injured by both. The beds destined for these onions, having probably been under a winter crop, are deeply delved over in the beginning of April, and thus rendered clean at the most critical season of the year for the larva that infest the soil. Besides, the plants grow with superior vigour, in consequence of the repeated hoe ings, and are thus better able to resist injuries, Mr Mac donald, indeed, sometimes practises the dipping of the roots of seedlings in a puddle prepared with one part of soot and three parts of earth ; but this may probably be dispensed with, as it seems likely that the exemption from the attacks of the worm, or the power of resisting them, depend rather on the other circumstances mentioned. It may be added, that all the varieties of onion seem to an swer equally well for transplanting.
Various means have been suggested of guarding against the attack of the maggot alluded to. One of the most simple and most important consists in selecting a fresh soil and an airy situation, never sowing on recently ma nured land. It is proper to avoid having very tender plants at the season when the maggot is known commonly to make its appearance : by sowing a fortnight or three weeks later or earlier, crops might often be saved. It is fre quently remai Iced, that while spring sown onions are cut off, the autumn sown crop escapes. Mr Machray at Errol has suggested the propriety of sowing onions only after crops known not to be subject to the attacks of the mag got, such as strawberries and artichokes. This plan, he informs us, (Scottish Hort. lllctn. i. 274.) he has practised for a number of years, and has found effectual in preserv ing his onions ; while it is attended with no inconveniency., as nothing can be more easy than to keep up a succession of strawberry and artichoke plants.