VEGETABLES 71 



occasionally. The seed should be sewn thickly, and 

 the earth which covers it should be fine and thinly 

 scattered on, for that planted in boxes it is best 

 not to cover at all. Water must be given in dry 

 weather. Sowings should be once a fortnight, and 

 as cress is much slower in vegetating than mustard, 

 the former should be sown five or six days earlier 

 than the latter, so that they will be ready together. 

 Eat it as soon as it is ready, when it is tender, green, 

 and short, and before the rough leaves appear. 



ONIONS 



The soil which best suits onions is a sound, 

 deep, and rich soil, yet moderately free, light, or 

 sandy loam. The soil for planting them should be 

 in a fertile and well pulverised condition ; a rather 

 gritty soil makes the best seed bed, and where there 

 is much clay other matter should be introduced into 

 the soil. Coarse sand, burned refuse, are the best 

 materials to favour successful growth. They also 

 require liberal manuring. The ground should be 

 well trenched and manured in the autumn, throwing 

 up the surface in rough ridges, so that frost may 

 act upon it thoroughly during the winter, and then 

 in the spring it will break down beautifully, and 

 then should be levelled and raked to a fine even 

 surface and the seeds sown, which should be done 

 during March, again in July and early in August 

 for autumn growing, also early in September. 



Sow thinly in drills eight inches apart, and the 

 beds should be about four feet wide, and after the 

 seed is raked in, the surface of the bed should be 

 beaten flat with a spade. In about three weeks the 



