Onion Seed 321 



to apply wood ashes as a surface dressing either in the 

 fall or spring. This is likely to improve the texture of 

 the soil and it adds an available supply of potash and 

 phosphoric acid. Lands that contain relatively little 

 vegetable matter and which are rather dry in spring 

 may receive an application of some soluble nitrogenous 

 fertilizer. Onion seed germinates rather slowly and the 

 plantlets are delicate and slender -rooted. The plants 

 must take hold at once if they are to make a good 

 growth. The onion -bed condition of tilth is* considered 

 by gardeners to be the measure of good treatment of 

 land. There is no vegetable - garden crop raised on a 

 large scale which demands such careful treatment of the 

 surface soil as the onion. 



Onion seed should be sown as early in the spring as 

 possible. This is because the onion delights in a 

 cool season, and also because the plants should become 

 established before the dry, hot weather of summer. In 

 garden practice, the seed should be sown thick, for there 

 is likely to be failure of the seeds to germinate; and if 

 the first sowing does not give a good stand it is rarely 

 advisable to make a second sowing because of the late- 

 ness of the season. In field culture, thinning is ex- 

 pensive, and one must take great care to secure good 

 and viable seed. The seed is sown with various kinds 

 of hand seed-drills, one of which is shown in Fig. 95. 



The character of the onion crop depends very largely 

 on the seed stock. The onion is a plant that quickly 

 runs down or deteriorates if the seed stock is not care- 

 fully selected and grown Cheap onion seed is always 

 to be avoided. Those who make a business of growing 



