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 to do. 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 



