38 THE CULINARY GARDEN. [FEB. 



low), only considerably thicker. The principal crop 

 should not be sown till March ; which see. 



V 



Of sowing Onions. 



About the latter end of the month is a proper time 

 to sow a full crop of onions, in land of a middling tex- 

 ture. If heavy and wet, the sowing had better be 

 deferred till next month, or till the first of April. 

 There are several sorts of onions, viz. the Strasburg, 

 Deptford, Portugal, or Spanish, red-skinned, silver- 

 skinned, &c. Any of these may be sown at this 

 time ; but the two first (which are indeed said to be 

 one and the same), generally produce the best crops, 

 and are certainly the best keepers. I have, however, 

 often seen very abundant crops of the silver kind. 



The land should be well broken in the digging. 

 If it have been manured for the preceding crop, and 

 be in good heart, so much the better ; but otherwise, 

 it will require to be dunged. In this case, a compost 

 of stable-dung, cow-dung, and earth, is to be pre- 

 ferred to any simple dung. At any rate, new, rank 

 stable-dung is improper ; especially for light soils. 

 Neither dig nor sow if the ground be not in a com- 

 fortably dry state, otherwise the seeds will not rise 

 freely. Sow either in fourrfoot beds, thinly, and 

 cover to the thickness of a quarter of an inch ; or in 

 shallow drills, eight or nine inches apart, also thin- 

 ly. Rake all smooth, but tread none in either case. 



The winter crop of onions should be gone over 

 about the end of the month, be cleaned from weeds, 

 and be thinned, if needful ; and let the surface be well 

 stirred up among the plants. If green onions be i,n 



