Evening star., 1942-05-31
TirnelyAdvice
For Victory
Gardeners
GrowMOre Onions
Is the Message
Of the British
Bv Gael Renfre,c

SAA~ 80 = ~AoA
By Gael Renfrew
Grow your onions is timely advice
for the home gardener. The slogan
has been sent across the seas by the
British people who have been in the
throes of an onion shortage for the
past two years. 1t has been even
more acute lately, for the supply on
hand was used up in February.
Thousands of acres have been plant
ed in the British Isles to this once
lowly root. but it seems that the
rainy August of 1941 cut the crop
to less than one-third of what had
been hoped for, and according to re-
cent reports only little more than
one pound per person of population
was available.
Small wonder, then, that the onion
has acquired priority in the vege-
table world. Even with newspapers
cut to quarter of their normal size
the onion rates paragraph of space
even makes the headlines. An
onion, for instance, was the much
valued award" presented last winter
to member of womans society
in small Scottish town, and the
porter (red cap) at an English rail-
way station who chanced to be given
an onion for tip was the envy of
his colleagues. They had to be con-
tent with mere cash!
ANY one who has had the good
fortune to come by an onion in re-
cent years has shared it with a
friend or neighbor 1t is too pre-
cious to keep to oneself.
There is nothing our British
cousins have missed more than
their onions. So the American peo-
pie, who have kept a finger on the
pulse of Britains war experiences,
would do we'll to emphasize onions
in their victory gardens.
Fortunately for the United States
there is perhaps no extensive area
in the country where the onion in
one or more Of its forms cannot be
successfully grown for home
and local use" So says the Depart
ment of Agriculture, which also ad-
vises that they thrive best on al
luvial and drained soils under a
temperate climate, but may be
grown under a very wide range of
conditions.
Soil requirements for the most
satisfactory growing of onions can
be very simply summarized. They
are: A high state of fertility suf-
ficient drainage, freedom from
weeds and good mechanical con-
dition, to insure easy working of the
crop
Sandy soil, if it has been we'll fer
tilted, will also give excellent re-
suits and something that must be
respected is the principle of rota-
ton. Onions should not be planted
in the same piece of land year after
year.
AS a guide to successful onion
growing, gardeners may choose
varieties from the following list,
which provides for all sections of
the country: Types favorable to the
4NO4 CilCl II ~SlO"1llR 1CSlOllS dIC
Early Yellow Globe, EbeneZer, Red
WetherSfield and Southport Red,
White and Yellow Globe.
Especially suited to muck or peat
soils in the North is the Ohio Vel
low Globe.
For cultivation in the Southern
States, varieties like the Red and
White Creole, the Crystal Wax, the
Early Grano and the yellow Ber-
muda are advocated. The latter is
very extensively grown in Texas, and
may be grown in other Southern
States throughout the winter.
In the irrigated sections of the
Western Mountain States and also
in the West Coast States the Sweet
Spanish is a favorite, while the
Mountain Danvers does well in the
higher altitude of Colorado.
California puts emphasis on the
California Early Red, which will also
grow in the Northern States.
In storing onions for winter use,
choose only those we'll ripened, dis
carding the immature members.
Good storage onions" to quote the
Department of Agriculture, will
rattle Ike blocks of wood when
poured from one crate to another y
Then there are onion cousins that
bring interesting changes on the fla
voring scale. Chief among these are
chives, shallot and leeks. Chives do
well in window box, and even be-
fore victory gardening became a
national concern they were making
their appearance in pots in various
parts of the country. Their restora-
ton to favor recalls the role they
played in the Colonial kitchen gar
den, where they were fostered by
our grand-dames because of the
delicate flavor they gave to soups
and stews and because they grew
their wispy leaves again and again
after cutting.