ONION. 237 



as possible, the seed is sown in drills about nine inches apart, and 

 sown very thick, so that the Onions shall grow as small as possible ; 

 there is no danger of their being too small; the smallest will make 

 as fine Onions next year as the largest, while if they are more than 

 half an inch ia diameter there is danger that they will not increase 

 in size but run to seed. As soon as these little Onions get ripe, 

 usually in August, they are pulled up, spread out and dried, and 

 stored away where they will keep cool and dry, and be protected 

 from severe frost, the same as any other Onion. 



Early in the spring, as soon as the ground can be nicely 

 worked, the beds for planting these sets are got ready by thorough 

 pulverizing and heavy manuring with aU the weU-rotted barn-yard 

 manure and bone dust that can be spared. Seventy-five tons of 

 fine barn-yard manure to the acre is not found to be any too liberal 

 a dressing, which should not be buried deep, but worked iuto the 

 surface of the soU. The sets are planted ia this bed in rows nine 

 inches apart and three inches apart in the row, by pressing each 

 firmly into the soU just deep enough to be covered. After the 

 bed is planted, the roUer should be drawn over it, so as to press 

 the soU firmly around the bulbs. As soon as the Onions show 

 themselves above ground enough to distinguish the rows, the hoe 

 should be run between them, and the ground between the onions 

 broken up with the fingers. This will destroy the young weeds, 

 and give the plants a good start, so that with a couple more such 

 hoeings they will be large enough for market early in June, and 

 the ground cleared of them in time for a crop of Cauliflower or 

 late Cabbage. In the vicinity of large cities this is found to be 

 a profitable mode of cultivation. 



In raising onions from seed, it is important to procure Amer- 

 ican-grown seed. For some reason European seed, whether from 

 Great Britain or the continent, often fails to form good, sohd 

 bulbs. Some varieties are not grown from seed, such as the Tree 

 or Top Onion and the Potato Onion, but by planting the bulbs. 

 The following varieties are selected as being the most worthy of 

 attention in our climate. 



Weatherspibld Large Eed. — The skin of this variety is a 



