il6 THE NEW ONION CULTURE 



Whatever the soil, and in whatever condition, the 

 leavings of the preceding crop, coarse weed stalks, 

 etc, should be removed with great care before the plow 

 is struck in. All such rubbish interferes in a very 

 inconvenient manner with after-cultivation, and any 

 neglect in the proper preparation of the soil will be 

 greatly regretted later in the season. 



This disposes of the problem what soil to select 

 for the onion crop. Now what about manure ? Some 

 suggestions have already been given. I have usually 

 recommended greatest liberality in the use of all sorts 

 of manurial substances. 



Fig 13 — ONIONS IN THE NEW STRAWBERRY BED 



"Put it on thick" is still my advice when we have 

 plenty of any kind of good compost that is reasonably 

 free from weed seeds, and the soil is of a rather sandy 

 nature. But if the latter is strong loam and very rich 

 already, or a loose rich muck, I feel that light dress^ 

 ings of organic manures will do well enough, and may 

 be safer, the larger proportion of the plant foods to be 

 given in the form of standard chemicals, especially 

 plain superphosphate (such as dissolved South Carolina 

 rock) and muriate of potash, up to 500 pounds per 

 acre of the former and 200 or 250 pounds of the latter, 

 and an occasional light dressing, say 100 pounds, of 

 nitrate of soda if the plants seem to need it, that is, 



