a corresponding supply of plant food in 
some shape. In selecting a fertilizer great 
care must be exercised in discarding any 
which may contain the seeds of weeds. 
1 his advice will also apply to the ground 
selected with equal force, as the labor of 
making an onion crop is lessened an hund¬ 
red fold where the land can be kept clean. 
Poultry manure cannot be excelled as a fer¬ 
tilizer for onions, but it is sometimes faul¬ 
ty in this respect. Very light sandy soils 
are not well adapted to onions. A dry 
crust is apt to form about the time or soon 
after the young plants come up, and the 
Sun heats the surface so hot that the plants 
frequently blight and die before they get 
well rooted. Reclaimed swamps which 
are composed of clay and decayed vegeta¬ 
ble matter and have a rich black appear¬ 
ance, usually furnish a very congenial 
home for the onion, and we have known 
ve: y large crops to be produced on such 
sods with little or no manure and very lit¬ 
tle labor, there being no garden weeds to 
contend with. 
The next point and perhaps the most im¬ 
portant consideration of all in a perspective 
onion crop is the 
SELECTION OF SEED. 
Whatever you do, or do not do, do not 
sow an ounce of seed upon the quality 
of which there is the slightest doubt. if 
it is not entirely above suspicion reject it. 
Many kinds of seeds, i£ well grown and 
cured, are good from three to five years, 
but Onion and Parsnip seeds can be implic¬ 
itly relied upon but one year. And then it 
is important, to produce fine onions, not 
only that the seeds be fresh and new but 
that they are carefully grown from selected 
bulbs and properly ripened and cured. We 
have known seeds which we positively 
knew were fresh, yet from some deficiency 
in ripening failed entirely to germinate. 
For this reason we make it an invariable 
rule to test them a ways before selling or 
planting, and would advise all persons to 
do the same, no matter how good reason 
they may have to suppose them all right. 
It is very little trouble to do this compared 
with that which may ensue when it is neg¬ 
lected. 
TESTING SEEDS. 
Our practice in testing seeds of all kinds 
is to take an old type case, which is a shal¬ 
low box divided into a great many compart¬ 
ments, and fill it nearly full of white sand. 
This is wet with warm water and a few seeds 
of different kinds sprinkled on the sand in 
each compartment. The whole is then cov¬ 
ered with a wet cloth, which has been 
several times folded so it will hold moisture, 
and placed in a warm light place, any kitch¬ 
en or living room will usually answer, and 
left for developments. In a very few days 
you may know to a certainty by lifting the 
cloth just what percentage is good by count¬ 
ing those which have sprouted and which 
have not. Where but one or two varietiei 
are to be tested at a time,' a couple of damp 
sods may be placed together wfith the seed* 
between them, or even two thick cloths used 
with an equally good effect providing they 
are watched and kept from drying. 
After the ground has been thoroughly 
prepared and worked to a sufficient depth, 
and the lumps and stones raked out, the 
next important step is 
SOWING TIIE SEEDS. 
Perhaps in no part of the work is a novice 
more likely to fail than in this. If the plot 
is large some one of the several improved 
seed sowers should be employed, but if small 
hand sowing is to be preferred. For hand 
sowing we should construct a marker like a 
large rake with teeth 12 inthes apart. 
Draw a line across one side of the field aa 
a guide and let one tooth follow it. The 
last mark made will do for a guide the next 
time across. In this manner mark the field 
both ways and then plant as many seeds as 
you can hold between the thumb and fore¬ 
finger at each intersection, at the same time 
rubbing about a quarter inch of soil over 
them and then pass to the next hill. ’ Three 
or four rows can be taken at a time, and b© 
sure to place the ball of your foot upon each 
hill after planting and rest your whole 
weight upon it, thus 
FIRMING THE SOIL. 
This is the important point in planting. 
When it is done with a seed drill we are too 
prone to suppose the light roller which is 
attached has sufficiently firmed the soil a- 
round the seeds. But it has not, and every 
inch of the row should be trod upon. 
We have in many instances known good 
seeds to fail or come up very irregulary for 
