Onions. 251 



longer than the end of January they begin to go soft and 

 useless. When very small bulbs are planted they grow into 

 large ones, but large bulbs multiply into numerous others. 

 Plant in rows 12in. apart, 9in. between the setts. As severe 

 frosts will sometimes destroy the bulbs, it is wise to scatter 

 litter along- the rows after planting. 



Manures : To get a satisfactory crop of Onions the soil 

 should be rich in plant foods in the most available form. What 

 would be considered sufficient to produce a good crop of 

 ordinary vegetables is not nearly enough to obtain the best 

 results from Onions, and as the heaviest item in the cost of 

 producing a crop is labour, and as the labour bill is not much 

 heavier for a large than for a small crop, it is obviously a 

 mistake to economise on the manure bill ; if sufficient manure 

 is not available to properly prepare the area intended for 

 Onions, it would be better and more profitable to put all the 

 manure on only half the space and limit the crop to that. 

 On soils which naturally contain a large amount of humus a 

 good crop may be obtained by the addition of suitable concen- 

 trated fertilizers, but on most soils the addition of natural 

 manure is indispensable. This may be either applied direct 

 for the particular crop or as the residue from a heavy dressing 

 given to the preceding crop. Almost any kind of manure will 

 do providing it is well-rotted before use ; when heavy dressings 

 of coarse rank manures are given the frequent result is either 

 failure through disease or a large proportion of bull-necked 

 bulbs which refuse to ripen. But natural manures, when used 

 alone, are not sufficiently well-balanced in the necessary 

 plant-foods to do full justice to this crop, and the best results 

 consistent with economy are obtained when a moderate 

 dressing of well-decayed natural manure (say 20 tons to the 

 acre) is supplemented with suitable fertilizers. What form or 

 proportions these should take depends upon the soil, in which 

 sometimes one and sometimes another of the three principal 

 plant foods is deficient, and this can only be correctly ascer- 

 tained by analysis, though a few experiments will settle many 

 doubtful points. Additional potash in some form should never 

 be omitted, whatever the nature of the soil. For general pur- 

 poses, on light to medium soil, in addition to natural manure, 



