about nine inches apart each way, to be cultivated entirely by the hoe, or in rows eighteen inches apart, the plants standing eight inches in the row, which will admit the use of a narrow cultivator between the rows.

This crop is marketable in April.

Any well-drained soil, made fine and mellow, and well manured will produce good lettuce.

After cleaning, or trimming the heads of soiled, or discolored leaves, they are firmly packed for shipment in crates, barrels being unfit for this crop.

MUSKMELON, or CANTALOUPE. See additional chapters, pages 251, 252.

OKRA, or GUMBO. See additional chapters, page 253.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE ONION (Allium Cepa).

Ognon, French; Zwiebel, German; Vijen, Dutch; Cipolla, Italian; Cebolla, Spanish; Alho, Portuguese.

The alliaceous esculents are of great antiquity and of universal cultivation in every civilized country, some nationalities preferring one variety, and others a different one. The same genus includes the Leek (Allium Porrum), the Chives (A. Schoenoprasum), the Garlic (A. sativum), the Shallot (4. Ascalonicum), and the Rocambole (A. Scorodoprasum). The onion (Allium Cepa) is the only species with which the truck-farmer has any concern. There are many varieties of the onion, only a few of which are grown for the Northern markets.

ANALYSIS.

According to Prof. C. A. Goessman, a crop of four hundred and forty-two bushels contained:

The peculiar characteristic odor is due to a volatile or ganic compound containing sulphur.

Onions are used medicinally as stimulants, diuretics, and anthelmintics (worm medicines). Boiled or roasted, they form emollient poultices. The fresh root irritates or reddens the skin, and the expressed juice is sometimes used in ear-ache and in rheumatism.

It has generally been held, but erroneously, that the onion could not be successfully grown from the seed, at the South, and that, below about the fortieth degree, the dry heat of our summers would dwarf the bulbs. Egypt and the Barbary States produce, perhaps, the finest onions in the world, several of the largest varieties having originated in Tripoli. Large quantities are annually exported from Portugal and Spain. The opinion prevails in Germany that the seed, at least of some varieties, will deteriorate, unless of southern growth; and those of the Madeira onion, used in Bermuda for the crop so popular in our Northern markets, are grown in the south of France. I have grown most varieties of the onion successfully for the past twenty-two years, having produced, one season, the "Giant Rocca" at the rate of ten hundred and fifty bushels per acre. The usual yield

At no

is from three hundred to eight hundred bushels. time of the year are the Northern markets entirely bare of this indispensable vegetable, some variety in its green or matured state being procurable.

The aim of the Southern grower should be to slip his crop into the market at a time when the supply from other sections is most deficient. The first matured bulbs

in the spring found in the Northern markets are the Bermuda grown "Madeira " onions. Although it might be possible to grow as fine onions in Florida from autumnsown seed, the attempt to compete with Bermuda onions for favor would seem

fruitless at present. South Florida might even anticipate the Bermuda crop. The next onions, other than from this section and from Florida, offered in market, are the "Potato onions," grown near Norfolk and in Maryland. Southern onions will be apt to bring the most satisfactory prices about the time the supply from Bermuda is becoming exhausted, which occurs about June 15th. While no variety of Southerngrown onions will keep

during the winter, should they ripen a little prematurely, they may be preserved sufficiently long to allow the shipments to be so timed as to meet this demand.

VARIETIES AND SEED.

Of more than one hundred varieties, the common "Red Wethersfield" and "Yellow Danvers" are the best keepers. The beautiful white "Italian Queen" is the earliest and surest, but is too small. The "Giant Rocca " makes an enormous yield, but is too large for market. The now popular "Globe Madeira" will be the best to succeed the Bermuda crop of the same variety.

Of no other vegetable, save the cauliflower, is it so im

portant to have a good strain of seed. If saved from bulbs of objectionable form, or imperfect development, scallions, instead of the desirable globular onions, will be the result.

The

No seed older than of the previous crop should be used, as it rarely retains vitality over one year; it is also well to put it to the preliminary test recommended in the chapter on "Seeds," in order to gauge the drill in accordance with the percentage of sound seed. It will germinate in three or four days, if kept warm and moist. seed is frequently soaked from one to four days, but I cannot recommend the practice. If it is found to be of fair quality, to be perfectly reliable, the drill may be gauged to drop a seed every quarter to half an inch, at which rate it will require from three to four pounds to the acre. If sown too thickly, great labor is required to thin the plants, as it must be done early enough in their growth to prevent injury by crowding, and to avoid breaking the roots of those to be left.

SOIL AND SOWING.

Onions may be sown at any time in the fall, the weather being favorable, but there is nothing to be gained by such very early planting. In the latitude of Savannah, and northward, the young plants of October or November sowing may be exposed to injury from heavy rains, or, notwithstanding the very hardy nature of the onion, from severe freezing in December. The crop from seed sown about January 1st escapes these dangers, comes in early enough for the better demand, and, growing through a shorter and warmer period, will require less extended

care.

The onion is intolerant of the vicinity of trees, and requires an open exposure.

The soil best adapted to this crop is a deep, rich, friable warm mould, full of vegetable matter, such as is fre

quently found in river bottoms and drained ponds. On heavy land, the bulbs are apt to remain small, and acquire a greater pungency of taste. If the soil is loamy, sand should be the predominating constituent. Land recently cleared, and therefore free from grass and weedseed, provided it is made perfectly mellow, is always to be preferred to old land, particularly unless the latter has been kept clean of weeds and grass, in order that none of their seeds may have been self-sown for several successive years. Although the onion is a very shallow-rooted plant, it delights in a well-drained, deeply-stirred, and finely-pulverized soil. No plant requires a more careful preparation of the land, and a proper piece, once selected for this crop (it being an anomaly in regard to rotation), it should always remain appropriated to the same purpose; for, with proper and efficient manure and management, the crop may be increased in quantity each successive year. The land should be allowed to mature no second crop. As soon as the onions are removed, it should be sown down to cow peas. If recently cleared land is selected, it should also be sown with peas in July or August. They will not only keep down the weeds, and tend to mellow the soil by the decaying mass of vegetable matter, but maintain and increase the fertility of the soil.

The first of December is early enough to plow under the dead pea vines, which should be deeply buried.

The analysis shows that the onion requires a rich nitrogenous manure, and that it also contains much potash and phosphoric acid. The manure of the hog is generally considered the best for this crop. If stable manure is used, it should not be coarse enough to prevent its being plowed under shallow. There is no objection to fine, green stable manure, provided it contains no seeds of weeds. If the animals have been fed on hay, the manure must be thoroughly fermented to destroy the vitality of