142 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



transplanted as soon as the ground is in fit condition. 

 There are several reasons for this : In the first place, 

 onions grow very slowly, and, if sown in the ground, 

 the weeds become too large and thick before the young 

 onions are large enough to cultivate. In the next 

 place, they can be transplanted the right distance 

 apart and do not rob each other of plant food, as they 

 would before thinning, if sown in the row. In the 

 third place, onions require a large amount of mois- 

 ture, and if started in the house or hotbed the plants 

 may be set out in time to get all the benefit of the. 

 spring rains. It has been shown that transplanting 

 will double the yield. 



How to Plant Onions. They should be set in rows 

 from a foot to eighteen inches apart, and the plants 

 should be placed about four inches apart in the row. 

 The soil should be heavily fertilized, and very thor- 

 oughly prepared. All lumps should be broken and 

 the surface made smooth. The rows may be laid off 

 by stretching a line across the plat. The plat may 

 be marked out along the string by rolling a wooden 

 wheel (an old wagon wheel with the tire removed 

 will answer), on whose edge wooden pegs about three 

 inches long and four inches apart have been set. The 

 plants should be placed in the holes made by the pegs 

 and the soil pressed firmly around their roots. 



Onion Cultivation. The cultivation can be done 

 with a steady horse, if the rows are far enough apart, 

 with a hand cultivator or with a hoe. Success depends 



