March] THE KITCHEN GARDEN. J95 
it a full spade deep, incorporating the dung therewith and pulver- 
izing the earth as you proceed in the digging; this should not be 
attempted till the ground is sufficiently dry to pulverize well and 
fall to pieces under the rake; but the earlier you can get it in this 
state, and the seed sown, the larger and better onions will you 
have. 
There are various methods of sowing the seed; but first I will 
give you the one practised by the most judicious and careful gar- 
deners. 
As you proceed in digging the ground rake it well after you; 
that being done lay it out into three and a half, or four feet wide 
beds, with alleys between of about afoot wide; then with the back 
of a rake push oft' the light loose earth from the top of each bed into 
the alleys, one half to the one side, the other to the opposite; this 
done, and being provided with good seed, sow it thereon at the rate 
of one pound for every sixteen rods, and with a shovel east the 
earth out of the alleys over the beds, covering the seeds evenly 
about half an inch deep; then rake the beds lightly, drawing off all 
the lumps into the alleys. 
When the plants are up let them be kept very clean and free 
from weeds of any kind by a good careful hand-weeding, which is 
to be repeated, from time to time, as they require it; and where 
they grow too close thin them to about two inches, plant from plant, 
all over the beds; by these means you will have excellent onions 
for the table the first year. 
Others dig the ground, levelling the surface evenly after them as 
they proceed in digging without raking it, and lay it out in beds as 
before; then sow the seed thereon and rake it in; and if the earth 
is light and dry they frequently tread it in with the feet before 
raking. Or the beds may be prepared, as in the first instance, and 
the seeds sown very thinly in drills, either of which methods will 
do very well. 
But when they are raised upon an extensive scale the ground 
may be cultivated by the plough, and when harrowed very fine the 
seed may be sown in drills at any convenient distance, and the in- 
tervals between them kept clean by hoeing; the remainder must be 
carefully hand -wed. 
Sowing seed, to produce small seed onions, will answer better in 
^pril, which see. If sown in this month they would generally 
grow to too large a size for that purpose. 
Of the several varieties of onion the Strasburg is the best for a 
general crop; it is a handsome bulb, generally assuming a roundish 
oval shape, is of firm growth, and keeps well for winter service. 
The white Spanish and silver skinned onions are of a milder 
taste, but all the varieties generally turn out very profitable crops; 
the latter kinds rarely keep so well after January as the Strasburg. 
The Portugal and Madeira onions are extremely fine; but they 
rarely attain with us as large a size as in these countries. 
The red Spanish onion is highly esteemed for pickling on account 
of its deep blood-red colour, and much cultivated for that purpose: 
