192 THE FORCING GARDEN. 
good land well facing the south, and not at all shaded. 
Dig it and manure it well in the month of July or 
the beginning of August. Dig it deep, twelve or 
fourteen inches, make the surface moderately fine, 
and drill the seed in six inches apart from row to 
row, and sow the seed thinly if you can depend 
upon its vitality. If the seed comes up too thick, 
thin out, as is usual in the case of spring-sown 
Onions. 
In the month of November spread a thick sowing 
of fine cinder ashes over them, so as to cover the sur- 
face; this will prevent the frosts from drawing the 
young Onions out of the ground, which long and severe 
frosts are apt todo. In the months of March or April 
sow over the whole a good dressing of bone manure, 
about four pounds weight to the rod, hoe it in, and 
then tread the beds over so as to make the surface 
firm, and by the month of June or July fine ripe and 
large Onions will be the result. Let our English 
market gardeners thus try to meet the home demands 
and keep out the foreigner. The Onion can be made 
to meet the early demands at home if either of these 
plans is adopted. If a suitable spot of land is chosen, 
and they are grown on a large scale, it can be done; 
but to follow the ordinary course of sowing Onions in 
the spring, and running the hazard of an unfavourable 
summer to ripen the bulbs, is bad policy on our part. 
Under the most favourable conditions as regards 
weather, they will not ripen till after our markets are 
filled with French Onions, which brings down the 
price so that it does not pay to grow them. 
In some of the mild counties of England where the 
