CHAPTER VII. 
HOW TO GET EARLY AND LARGE ONIONS. 
Few people are aware how the fine Portugal Onion 
is produced. The Onion, I well know, requirés heat ; 
too much heat can scarcely be given to it; therefore 
plant or sow it in the best and most favourable spot for 
the sunshine that you can find. To get the finest 
Onions, choose some of the large-growing sorts, such as 
Globe Tripoli, Giant Rocca, or Giant Madeira. Sow 
the seed thickly on some poor ground exposed to the 
full influence of the sun about the middle of August ; 
or it may be sown in cold frames quite thick, and 
induced to form small bulbs, which should, however, 
be ripened, when they may be pulled up and well 
dried, as for picklers; but they should be kept ina 
cold room till March or April when some thoroughly 
rich ground should be prepared for them in the 
hottest place you can find; but the ground must be 
thoroughly good. . To make it so, rough-dig it first 
in the month of February, mark it out into four-feet 
beds, and then put the contents of the common sewer 
on the top of them, all over, as a good thick dress- 
ing, and let it remain exposed to the full influence of 
the air. If this is done in January or the beginning 
of February, the manure will get completely pulver- 
‘sed, and lose its injurious qualities. 
