CONCERNING ONIONS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1678, 27 April 1904, Page 69

CONCERNING ONIONS

(B)y S.T. in “Farm and Field/’) The onion is undoubtedly one of 'the most important of all the hardy rootcrops, and may be ranked next to the potato. As a subject for exhibition it is indispensable, whil it is also an important market oro» and' for home use there i!s nothing more nourishing or generally useful. It has been said that England ought to grow the whole of her supply of onions, instead) of having to import so many thousands of pounds’ wortli from France and Spain annually, and this certainly might be done, many parts of the country being extremely suitable for the culture of the onion. But to descend from the general to the particular. It is noo at all a difficult matter to grow a good crop of onions on almost any kind of soil —lifbt. medium or heavy. I have had excellent returns from all these- soils;. it is oniy a matter of deep working, or trenching, and liberal manuring, in conjunction with a little management. In order to obtain ’large bulbs, a moderately substantial loamy soil, inclining to the heavy side, is desirable, but a large part of the onions for the London market are grown on the sandy soils of Bediordshire, which seem to produce excellent crops of small to medium-sized bulb's. There are several ways of growing the onion, and the best depends principally upon 'the nat'aro of the soil and the purpose for which the produce is required. The usual method, of course, is to sow the seed in well-prepared ground in the spring —usually in March or the early part of April—and for ordinary purposes this is doubtless the simplest way, the plants being thinned out, when well up, to a moderate distance, more or less according to the size of the bulb required. Bub wherever the destructive onion

maggot (anthomyia) iis at all troublesome i'C will be found far better to sow the seed in the autumn, instead.of the spring, especially where a light soil prevails and good-sized to large roots are desirerl, it. being a somewhat remarkable fact that the fly that lays the eggs seldom, if ever touches the autumn sown piants. The best time to sow is towards the end of August, or quite early m (September, and the little seedlings must be planted 1 out singly in deeplydug and weii-manured soil in February, or March. It is, hover, of very little use, as a rule, to sow onions in, the autumn unless the soil is at any rate fa.ny light or free, as on heavy soil the seedlings frequently (die off. Yet another way is to sow the; seed unuei gias& —in a gently-heated green*bouse or frame—in the early spring, from the middle or end of January till March, and prick the plants out in the open ground an the same manner as the autumn-sown plants, butt of course rather iater. in this way bulbs almost as large as those produced by autumn-sown, plants may be obtained, anrl if got out m good tunc they seldom suffer to any extend from attacks of the fly. Sow the seed in one or more good-sized boxes oi lignt, noh soil, and keep this regularly, moist; die plants are sometimes potted! ouigiy before being planted out, but this is not absolutely necessary. They may be placed from 4m to 6in apart, with & chstanoe of one foot between tliel rows* In ail oases the soil must be made quite firm, for onions never do any good in a loose soil.