The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-04-28
oUR GARDENER.
What He Knows About Onions-spring
Gardening.


Gardening.
The first, and enc Of the most important
things to be done, is to turn the ground over
The best way to do this is to take an Irish
man and spade. In two days, and for
compensation of about So, he will turn over
plot ofground which looks small indeed to
you, but which will seem almost as large as
the State of Iowa by the time you have, with
hoe and rake got it into proper condition for
planting. In ornamental gardening you
have to mash up all the clods-in other
words get things down fine. In real farm
ing this is not done-the clods are merely
pushed to one side or jumped over. whence
the origin of the term "clod-hopper,"
One of the first things generally put in the
ground is onions. Now, the onion is a very
peculiar article. The old saying, ain union
there is strength" is evidently misspelllng
of this famous vegetable. The first onions
in the West were discovered at Davenport,
but there is legend that they originally
came from Wethersfeld, Conn. The
varieties of onions are innumerable-almost
as much so as the sands on the seashore.
They all, however, agree In one thing-they
are al strong; they also all smell alike, and
there are people who don't like the smell.
There is the red onion and the white onion,
the winter onion and the spring onion, the
wild onion and the tame onion; the onion
from the set and the onion from the
seed; the top onion and the root onion, the
silver-skinned ouion and the rough onion.
Some kinds you take a root, set it out, then
| pull it in the fall, take the top and shell out
| the seed, plant the seed next year, and from
| the seed you get a set; put out the set. the
| succeeding season, and from this set you will
have, if the season is favorable, neither too
wet nor too dry, hot or cold, and if you don't
| set it out too late nor too soon, and don't let
the weeds get in it, and if you pull it when it
is exactly ripe, in the course of just three sea
sons, good, solid, substantial onion, at cost
| not to exceed 81 per onion. If it costs you
more than that, raising onions is not your
forte, and you had better quit it. All the
same there is great satisfaction in being able
to say you raised it yourself. And if you do
eat it up quick, you can taste it for week
| afterward. The best way, however, to raise
onions, il to go and buy your sets. You can
purchase onion sets for about what the onions
would be worth when they arrive at maturity,
provided the sets would all grow. The fact
that they won't an come up, makes onion
raising in this way, as Mrs. Darlington would
remark, Somewhat costive." The onion
sets are inserted in the prepared ground in
straight rows, which rows are generally made
with the handle of the hoe or rake. 1t j:
not very material which. They are also tt
be planted Gin the moon" Many o.
our readers may not know what THU
means. We are not proud, but if we were
proud of anything it would be that we have
good, Practical agricultural education. BY
planting in the moon" is not meant tina
the roots are really to be deposited on tn,
| surface of the celestial orb, but are to be de
posted in mother earth at certain stage o.
phase of the moon. The theory is, vegeta
| bles that are of a rooty nature should b
planted in what is commonly known as 9TH
dark oft hemoon;" those which are re
qnired to go to top in the "ligh
peculiar nature. Some people prefer tn
top, and some the root. Reasoning from
analogy, your duty is plain. You want t,
| plant your onion "betwixt and between,
| and then you have it. Another thing mus
| be borne in mind. More weeds will grow
between and around onions than can b.
forced into the ground around any othe
| vegetables. And the man who expects t.
raise onions without labor is apt to be mis-
taken. The way to pull onions is by tn,
tops The reprehensible practice indulget
in by some of undertaking to get under tn
onion and uproot it or pull it down the othe
way can not be too severely reprobated
| Another thing-don't raise onions in gar
den to sell. But if you are fond of then
you can probably make away with all you
can raise.