40 GARDENING FOR ALL. 
Onions delight in deeply-worked and rich soil, and are 
not particular abuut the mechanical nature of it. 
Dig the ground in autumn or winter, and apply a liberal 
dressing of manure at the same time. Leave that soil in as 
rough state as possible in order that frost may penetrate it ; 
when it will be well pulverised and break down into a fine 
tilth at the desired time, which will be a few days before the 
time fixed for sowing the seed. Before breaking down the 
soil with the fork, a liberal dressing of soot may be applied 
at the rate of three bushels per square perch; this will, when 
mixed with the soil, serve both as a stimulant to the crop 
and a deterrent to insect pests. 
Seed, for what are termed spring sown onions, ought to 
be sown before the middle of March. Sow in drills ten 
inches or a foot apart ; cover the seed about an inch deep 
with soil, make the soil firm with the rake, or tread it lightly 
in if the soil is very sandy, but do not roll it or beat it down 
with a spade. Thin the crop early, leaving the plants from 
three to six inches apart, according to the size required and 
the purpose for which they are grown. 
When the plants are two or three inches high, let them 
be dusted over carefully and evenly with soot, or soot and 
fine lime mixed, for the purpose of repelling the onion fly 
when she approaches the onions for the purpose of laying the 
eggs from which are hatched the onion maggot. The success 
of the crop will greatly depend upon the frequency and care 
with which this simple preventive measure is carried out. 
Autumn onions may be sown during the last half of July 
or first week in August, and may follow early peas or early 
potatoes. 
Scores of acres of these onions are annually sown in 
Worcestershire for pulling and bunching in spring, and 
realize from a penny to fourpence per dozen bunches. As 
the seed is sown thickly for this purpose, it will be readily 
understood that sometimes a nice sum is obtained from half- 
an-acre of such onions. Sometimes the markets are so glutted, 
as occurred in the spring of 1894, that it turns out to be a 
‘‘Josing horse,” and the crop has to be ploughed or dug in. 
a 
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