CULTURE OF THE ONION. 645 



with holes an inch apart, so that the teeth, which are to form the 

 drills, may be fixed at any convenient distance. Market -gardeners 

 sometimes, instead of distributing the seed along the drill, drop four 

 or five seeds together at every six or eight inches' distance, giving no 



Fig. 376. Fig. 377. Fig. 378. 



The ticlls-hoe. The small The drill-rake, 



drill-hoe. 



thinning afterwards, but leaving the plants to press against and push 

 aside one another. This saves the labour of thinning ; and if the soil 

 is kept well stirred between the rows, a considerable bulk of crop 

 will be produced, though the onions will be very irregular in point of 

 size. In deep alluvial loam, the onion plants grow most luxuriantly, 

 but are more apt, especially in wet seasons, to produce what are called 

 scallions ; the foliage being strong and thick at the neck, but the root 

 is made soft and ill-ripened, and will not keep. It has been found 

 advantageous sometimes to roll or tread such land well ; but in the 

 general run of seasons, when the climate is moist, soil of a rather 

 clayey nature is found to suit best, and to produce the foliage small at 

 the neck, and the bulb round, protuberated, and well ripened. A 

 thin crop also is more apt to produce most scallions, and it is safer to 

 have the crop rather to the thick side, as they are found to increase 

 less in foliage and more in root, and though the onions are not so 

 large, the weight of the crop is greater, and they keep better. Much of 

 the tendency to produce thick necks flows, as in turnips, from not 

 choosing the roots well in saving the seed. The plants that have small 

 foliage, and handsome well swelled-out roots, are most likely to pro- 

 duce their like again from seed, and much depends on the carefulness of 

 the person who saves the seed. Where great breadths of onions are 

 annually sown, the seed imported from Holland from careful agents 

 there is allowed to give the best crops. Soil that can be broken small 

 to a fine surface requires less seed. Clayey ground intended for 

 onions should be thrown up rough in November or December to get 

 the frost, which converts it into a fine mould more favourable to 

 the growth of the onion. On light dry soils, near the coast, the 

 practice of sowing in autumn is found to succeed best, as the onions 

 tail in .the drought of summer when spring-sown. Nitrate of soda, 

 guano, and soot are among the best manures for onions. Common 

 salt in moderation applied to the soil has been found very beneficial. 

 Large prize onions are frequently grown on a layer of rich manure, 

 six inches deep, placed on a hard surface. They are transplanted on 



