The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-04
THE MORNING NEWS MONDAY, OCTOBER f. 1897

at the norm, ana especially Wlefe the
Italian varieties are cultivated.
The writer time and again has grown
much finer onions from the seed than from
The sets.
Raising a crop from the sets, it is true,
does not require the same amount of care
and watchfulness that a crop grown from
the seed does; but there are some advan-
tages on the side of seed planting not pos
sessed by set-planting, and the reverse is
also true. To grow a crop for use or mar
ket early in the spring when the onions
are sod in green stage (some weeks be-
fore they would have matured) ii is a good
plan-one not likely to be discarded-to
use the sets and plant them in the fall. II
the sets can be secured reasonably, and
especially where properly grown from a
good variety, it is a very satisfactory plan
to pursue with good part of the crop.
From a long and successful experience in
the culture of onions we can commend the
use of sets only for the part of the crop
that is designed to be used at home or mar
keted in a green state. Onions grown
from sets do not keep well even If they
bulb perfectly instead of shooting to seed
prematurely. We have had a good many
crops, apparently very promising in
March, prove almost absolute failures in
April or May from the development of seed
stalks instead of forming bulbs. This rem
ders the onion unfit for use-eXcept per-
haps for seasoning. If protracted drought
should occur, as it often-times does I'm the
spring, the check given to the crop results
in greater or less effect of this kind. Il
depends upon the nature and the charac-
ter of the sets used whether il will be a
crop of perfect onions or a crop of seal
lions.
If properly cultivated a crop grown from
the seed is the one that makes the finest
onions and the best keepers
While the use of sets affords q worry co0-
venient way for growing an early crop
for use in the green state il is very ex-
pensiYe plan and not to be resorted 10
when a crop be preserved is sought after
Twelve of fifteen years ago we adopted
the plant that is now being commended
as a great novelty by a number of horti-
cultural writers, of simply raising plants
from an early sowing of the seeds and
transplating these plants in place of sets
just as early in the season as possible
This is very excellent plant for south
ern practice. Onion seeds are usually to
be had for about $3.50 per pound. At A
low estimate there are 10000 seeds tn
the pound, and it certainly does seem
reasonable that pound of seed should
afford 1900 plants, if properly planted and
looked after
If we have our rows two feet apart and
allow the plants a distance of six inches
in the row it would require 43 264 plants
lowing for various accidents to reduce the
number of plants considerable IL is GER
tainly a reasonable exception to count on
pound of fair" quality seed Welding
$1,000 If not $1,000 plants.
Unless special care is exercised in the
purchasing of seeds it will be quite pos
sible to get quantity hardly worth the
trouble of planting. Not to multiply
words ineregard to this part of the sub
ject the following advice is here insisted
upon.
Buy your seed in September of a we'll
known scotsman, who will guarantee that
they are of the new crop of seed and true
to name. We could name a half dozen
seed-groWers from whom new crop seed
can be obtained in September and pos
sesses a vitality of 80 per cent. if not
more. Fresh seeds is, of course, very i'm
portant, and all necessary pains must be
taken to secure them.
To secure plants of good size to be set
out Gn Middle Georgia. from Jan. 20 to
Feb. 20 (and later, seeds fresh and true
must be sown in properly prepared beds in
October--the earlier in the month the bet
ter.
If the seeds are perfectly fresh and the
sowing so carefully made as to insure
prompt termination, Oct l is sufficiently
early, usually, for Middle Georgia SOW
ings, butvthere is no objection to making
sowing can be made to advantage in cold
frames where only a few plants are need
ed to be grown With the aid of pine
straw to mulch the plants when severe
weather occurs, they can be grown very
readily in the open ground.
This method of transplanting is very
practical and profitable, the work being
done al a season when other garden work
is not pressing, and the work of setting
out several acres is not very tedious uD-
GRAFTON after the work gets wei. started
Make the seed beds about four feet wide
and level it nicely. sow the seeds thickly
broadcast, says twelve to fifteen to the
square ineh,r cover with a half inch of soil
and then roll the beds. The plants will
appear in few days If the seeds are good.
and the plants will attain a good size be-
fore severe cold weather occurs It will
be late in December usually before there
will be need to apply the mulch During
warm spells in January and February the
mulch should be taken Off but if the
weather should prove continuously cold.
the mulch should not be disturbed. Where
one grows large crop of onions it will nav
to have as many cold frames as possible.
but the onion and lettuce plants can cas-
lily be secured by open air planting and
mulching.