148 Bulb or Onion Crops 



in an onion bed. Raw and coarse stable manures are rarely 

 used for onions because they make the land rough and keep 

 it too open, and they usually bring in seeds of weeds. 

 Lowlands usually have sufficient humus, but if they have 

 not, it may be supplied by top-dressings of old and fine 

 manure. Commercial fertilizers are usually to be advised 

 in preference to fresh stable manures. It is customary to 

 apply wood ashes as a surface dressing either in autumn 

 or spring. This is likely to improve the structure of the 

 soil and it adds an available supply of potash and phos- 

 phoric acid. Lands that contain relatively little vegetable 

 matter and are rather dry in spring may receive an appli- 

 cation of a soluble nitrogenous fertilizer. 



The seeding. 



Onion seed germinates rather slowly and the plantlets 

 are delicate and slender-rooted (Figs. 66, 67). The 

 plants must take hold at once if they are to make a good 



growth. The onion-bed con- 

 dition of tilth is considered by 

 gardeners to be the measure of 

 good treatment of land. 'No 

 vegetable-garden crop raised 

 66. Onion seeds (X 4). ^^ ^ j^^^gg g^g^j^ demands such 



careful treatment of the surface soil as the onion. 



Onion seed should be sown as early in the spring as pos- 

 sible. This is because the onion delights in a cool season, 

 and also because the plants should become established before 

 the dry hot weather of summer. In garden practice, the 

 seed should be sown thiek, for there is likely to be failure 

 of the seeds to germinate ; and if the first sowing does not 



