THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES 71 



manured in autumn. The tubers should be planted in 

 March in drills about six inches deep, eighteen inches 

 being allowed between the rows, and six inches between 

 the plants in the row. In the summer it is desirable to 

 give abundance of water. In well-drained soil the tubers 

 may remain in the ground all the winter till required. 

 In the case of heavy soil they may be lifted in November, 

 and stored in a cool shed, but the light must be absolutely 

 excluded, and therefore it is desirable to cover the 

 tubers with dry sand. 



Onions 



Onions can only be grown well in a rich and deeply- 

 dug soil, which has been well manured the previous 

 autumn. Just before sowing it is a good plan to fork 

 in a liberal dressing of soot and wood-ashes, and it is 

 desirable to scatter a good dressing of the same mixture 

 broadcast over the bed two or three times during the 

 period of growth. Seed should be sown thinly, about 

 one ounce being sufficient for two hundred feet of drill. 

 Early in March the seed of spring Onions should be 

 sown in drills about a foot apart, the ground being 

 rolled or trodden immediately after sowing. It is a 

 good plan to cover the seeds — that is to say, to fill up the 

 drills — with soil from an old cucumber bed. The young 

 plants should be thinned out, as soon as they are large 

 enough, to from six to nine inches apart. The ground 

 between the rows should be kept ruffled with the hoe. 

 By the end of August, when the growth will have 

 been completed, any plants in which the foliage is still 

 erect should be bent over. About the third week in 

 September the Onions should be taken up and hung in 

 string bags in a dry room. About the end of July a 

 sowing may be made of such a variety as the White 

 Leviathan. These will be valuable early in the following 



