THE 114 
GARDEN YARD 
ditions for planting your crop. Next get good 
seed. Good onions often give poor seed, but 
cheap seed always means poor onions, so buy 
the best seed always. 
Reclaimed marshes, freed from roots and peat, 
and thoroughly fertilized, are ideal places for 
growing onions. The rows or drills, which must 
be 14 inches apart, must also be perfectly 
straight, else the necessary cultivation cannot 
be given. The crop often needs two weedings 
by hand when the plants are very young, and 
frequent cultivation by the wheel-hoe. Now 
the wheel-hoe cannot do good work on rough or 
uneven ground, and its best work is none too 
good for onions, so you see where you are at. 
The onion crop is divided into two classes, 
the early crop and the main season crop. Early 
crop onions are immature, green, and are tied 
in bunches for market; main season crops are 
dry and are a staple product. 
Early onions may be grown from seed, but 
are usually grown from bulbs. There are three 
kinds of bulbs for planting: “top” onions, 
potato or “ multiplier’”’ onions and “ sets’’; . the 
first two are distinct types, but “sets” are 
only partly grown onions. “Top” onions are 
really small bulbs which grow on the top of the 
plant instead of fruit; “multipliers” are onions 
