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VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



to make a seed bed by the use of a disk or other good harrow 

 and plant at once; in fact, better results will generally be ob- 

 tained from spring harrowing than from spring plowing of land 

 to be used for onions. Of course, if the land is to be harrowed 

 only to prepare it for the crop, it is very important, if manure is 

 10 be used, that this be very fine, so that the harrow will 

 cover it. 



Old land is generally preferred for onions, and this crop is 

 often successfully raised on the same land for many years. 

 From the fact that onion land is always most carefully attended 

 to and gets much manure and tillage, it is generally in better 

 condition for onions than land used for almost any other crop. 

 However, it is a good plan to occasionally change the land for 

 onions, since on new land there is far less danger from disease 

 and insect enemies than on old land. Land that has grown any 

 crop requiring high culture and heavy manuring and is free 

 from weed seeds will generally grow good onions. Sometimes 

 onions are raised on newly cleared woodland or prairie sod with 

 greatest success, simply by sowing the seed broadcast and har- 

 rowing it in; but this is seldom attempted. 



Sowing the Seed. — Before sowing the seed the land should 

 be made very smooth. It is very important to get the seed in 

 the ground as early in the spring as possible. As soon as the 

 land can be worked in the spring, the seed should be sown and 

 the earlier it is sown the better. The seed of some kinds can 

 be sown in the autumn to advantage, but on land that is in- 

 clined to "bake," it is a bad practice and is seldom attempted. 

 There is, however, a fair chance of a crop even if the seed is 

 sown as late as the first of June, but a first-class crop from seed 

 sown as late as this is almost out of the question. By the mid- 

 dle of May, all onion land should have been sown. The distance 

 between the rows will depend somewhat on the variety grown, 

 but for ordinary purposes the seed should be sown in rows fif- 

 teen inches apart and covered one inch deep. About eighteen 

 good seed should be sown to each foot of row, which will make 

 it necessary to use four or five pounds of seed per acre. If 

 there is danger of much loss from the depredations of the onion 

 maggot, more than this amount of seed should be used; where 

 maggots are very troublesome some growers use as much as six 



