ONION. 235 



inches apart, and the seea sown thinly, so that they may he 

 ahout one inch apart in the drill. The drills should be very 

 shallow, mere scratches into which to drop the seed, and the 

 covering is best done with a light roller, run over the ground 

 lengthwise of the drills. 



Onion seed will germinate when two years old, but it is not 

 as likely to produce as vigorous plants as fresh seed raised the 

 previous summer. It is very easy to test its vitality by placing 

 a few seeds upon some damp cotton or a bit of wet moss in 

 a warm room; if it be fresh, it will sprout in three or four 

 days. Foui pounds of fresh seed will be enough to sow an 

 acre with the sowing machine; and when sown in the garden 

 by hand, an oimce should be enough for four hundred feet of 

 drill. The seed should be sown just as early as it is possible to 

 get the ground in good condition; the earliest sown yield the 

 heaviest crop. 



As soon as the plants can be seen, the ground should be 

 hoed carefully between the rows, and the weeds thoroughly 

 cleaned out. The hoeing should be shallow, taking care not to 

 draw the earth up around the plants, but to keep the ground 

 level and clean. As soon as the Onions are an inch or two 

 high, they should be thinned out to two inches apart in the 

 row. At this distance apart they may be allowed to grow for a 

 time, and the young onions used for the table or sold in the 

 market, by gradually thinning out to four inches apart, until 

 they begin to be too much crowded. In field culture, or where 

 there is no market for these very young onions, the plants may 

 be thinned out to four inches apart as soon as they are well 

 established. 



Timely and thorough cultivation is of great importance to 

 the success of this crop, as it is, indeed, the secret of all profit- 

 able culture. If the weeds once get the start they wiU materially 

 injure the growth of the plants, if not entirely ruia the crop; 

 hence, do not let the weeds start at all, but hoe before they 



become visible. Thus, much time and labor will be saved, and 

 17 



