Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-04-04
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
onion Culture.


Gus soil with gravelly substance should
be avoided. Onions will succeed equal
ly well any number of years on the
same ground if it is kept in condition
with fine yard manure every season and
treated to a top-dressing of wood-ashes
occasionally. This being the case, it is
recommended to select with reference to
cultivation the same field for an indefin-
preparation is avoided, and each succeed
vided the previous work has been
thoroughly done. In addition to sugges-
tions already made, planters are advised
that the surface of the ground should be
nearly or quite level, to prevent wash
ing. Ground that is strong ought to be
avoided. as well as that which is shady or
liable to be too wet to work early in the
spring.
Having selected the ground, the next
thing to be done is applying heavy coat
of well-rotted manure If the soil is of
a light sandy nature cow-manure will
be suitable, otherwise hog-manure is
very generally preferred, but stable
manure or common barnyard manure
well rotted will serve. The quantity to
the acre must be determined in part by
the condition and character of the soil; {;
from twenty to thirty loads are usually
required at the beginning. This may be
carted on and ploughed under in the fall
OF in the spring previous to sowing.
Having manured and ploughed the land,
it is next to be narrowed and raked until
smooth and even.
The main crop should be sown as early
l,n srYn,,Yl -,
and whenever this occurs a favorable
opportunity for putting in the seed
should not be permitted to pass, as the
earliest sown onions, other things being
equal, do the best. Sow the seed thick
ly and regularly, and cover with the soil
displaced in making the drills, which
soil should be well pulverized. From
three to four pounds Of seed per acre, or
one ounce to every one hundred feet,
is required for drill. Onion sets and
tops are placed on the surface in shallow
twelve-inch drills about four inches
apart, slightly covered. Small sets re-
quire about one quart to twenty feet.
Not a few successful cultivators advo-
Gated planting onions in hills, thinking
this saves time in the after cultivation.
When this mode is adopted from six to
eight seeds are planted in a hill.
Be careful what seed is sown; procure
it, when there is a necessity Of buying,
from a trustworthy source. 1t should
not be over one year old. Choose the
variety most in demand in the markets
where you make your sales. The COM
mon red onion is a general favorite, and
the yellow Danvers has proved a good
sort for home markets, as it keeps equal
to the beet during the winter. Among
other popular varieties are extra early
red, Wethersfield large red, yellow
Dutch and Southport white globe.
No definite rule can be given for the
number of hOeings or weddings for the
onion crop. Suffice it to say, the oftener
the ground is stirred the better for the
crop. A top-dressing of wood-ashes ap-
piled after the second wedding is very
beneficial, as will soon be apparent in
the dark and healthy changeAof color
given to the plants.
For growing onion "setsn or button"
onions the seed should be sown as early
as possible in the spring very thickly in
beds OF drills. About the middle of
July Gin this latitude), or whenever the
tops die down, the little bulbs or "setsn
can be gathered and kept spread thinly
in some dry and airy place.-New York
World.
Tree-Training.
The cutting or saving of large branches
from trees is an injury that none can ever
recover from, although some endure it
better than others. Our fruit trees have
quite enough to contend against from the
violent climatic changes to which they
are exposed in nearly all the country east
of the Rocky mountains, without their
owner and self-styled "cultivator am
putating their limbs-as an inquiring
friend proposes to do to make them
thrive and bear" A tree should be
pruned as q child is trained. 1t must be
treated when young with steady atten-
ton, and corrected before i'll tendencies
have hardened into the actual maturity
of unyielding wood. 1t does not harm a
child to cut its nails, OF even to slap or
pinch it little if.the trifiing pain checks
its taking further steps into some bad
habit.
SO with trees and vines. We can stop
redundant growth that threatens to rob
or choke bearing shoots, by pinch OF
nip of the end on any summer day; but
if we go to cutting or removing leaves,
we do as much harm as if we iniure a
child's vitals. The tree or plant is the
more delicate of the two in one respect
its vital organs are not encased, but are
open, external and unprotected. This
will explain why the orchardist should
be very cautious in cases where total
neglect for years has caused inveterate
misgrowth. Any dead branches should
of course be removed; and it is best, in
that case, to endeavor to remove al
wood that shows signs of decay, applying
to the wound as soon as the surface il
dry some waterproof coating to prevent
stoppage of sap circulation by drying
from within OF chemical decomposition
| from admission of air, and not, as usually
explained, to prevent the entrance o
moisture from without. Beyond this
all that can be done, with due respect t.
the permanence of the tree, is a thinning
of the shoots, and this is best done Will
pruning-shears.
When the shoots are crowded, anC
many of them are mere wood-shoots
without spurs, these should be removed
first, excepting all such as are growing
velop healthy, full-leafed fruit spurs
| w Hell, On uue COnGldIJ, ullcIe dIb Du
very few mere wood-shoots of last year
but nearly all are old and set with fruit
spurs, they should be shortened in, or, i
crowded, thinned by nipping off sucl
smaller branchlets as are too near to
gether for their leaves to have full light
When tree or branch shows no youn
wood but an excess of fruit-spurs,
indicates an obstructed circulation
Either the stem has been dried, a
through wound, OF the cells have bee
ruptured by frost, or clogged in conse
quence of over-hearing. In such a case
amputation and the training of new
healthy growth from below is the onl
remedy because decay has set in, or, t
use q chirurgical term, modification ha