HOME VEGETABLE GARDENING 
ONIONS 
T TNLIKE most other garden crops, onions thrive on 
the same piece of ground for a number of years. 
Should the soil become infested with root maggots, how- 
ever, the rows must be shifted to some other spot. The 
best onions are grown on rich, black loam of a “mucky” 
nature. But under careful management, in the home 
garden, most any soil can be made to yield good crops if 
it is reasonably moist and the crop is weeded and cultivated 
regularly. 
Heavy clay soil should have lots of lime, bone meal, and 
wood ashes added to it. Soil of a sandy nature should be 
given body by the addition of large quantities of well-de- 
composed manure, leaf mould, or humus. Never use 
fresh stable manure, because it breeds maggots. 
Onions require several months to mature the crop and 
most kinds occupy the ground from spring until fall. Do 
not waste seeds by sowing them in poor soil. Newly broken 
land is seldom suitable for onion culture. 
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