OMOX GROWING. 191 



In the beginning of March or by the middle of the 

 month, go over the beds with a three-pronged dung 

 hook, and work the surface over five or six inches deep, 

 mixing the manure well with the soil, and then leave 

 it for a week, at the end of which rake down the 

 ground with a coarse rake, leaving a fine surface ; and 

 after the first shower that conies dib in the small bulbs 

 in rows across the beds, seven or eight inches apart 

 from row to row, and six inches from plant to plant ; 

 do not bury them too deep. These small bulbs will 

 give the earliest and best Onions, but they must not 

 be sown too early, nor allowed to be too thin, or else 

 they will run to seed. As soon as they begin to swell 

 off, and show no signs of running to seed, sow a slight 

 quantity of ' Groulding's Bone Manure,' or * Goulding's 

 Special,' over them, but mind not to overdo it ; in the 

 proportion of one pound to every thirty square yards 

 will be quite enough. Keep them clean, and clear out 

 the soil round each bulb when they are the size of a 

 breakfast cup ; the bulbs will then swell rapidly, and 

 come to a large size and ripen thoroughly by the 

 month of July. When the tops turn yellow, pull them 

 up and let them lie on the top of the ground to finish 

 off through the power of the sun, which they will do in 

 the course of a week, if the weather is fine. Then 

 they may be trimmed off and sold. By this means the 

 English grower may be able to fairly compete with the 

 French, and by perseverance will have finer Onions 

 ready for market before they can bring them here. 



There is still another way by which the English 

 Onion grower can compete with the French for our 

 own markets. (ret some seed of Danvers's Yellow, 

 or the Banbury Yellow, and prepare a broad piece of 



