74 
AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER. 
A writer for the N. E. Farmer , vol. iii, p. 249, with the signature J. 
recommends “a mois , black soil/’ as best, but says, “ a free, deep loam 
will answer very well.” “ The onion is not by nature inclined to root deep 
You must give it a hard bottom to grow on, and keep your manure on the 
surface within reach of the loots; then they will grow large, flat, and hand¬ 
some.” Advises to sow the same piece for several successive years. “ I 
have always sowed onions in drills , about eighteen inches apart, to give fair 
play to the hoe. Onions must be sowed as early as possible after the frost 
is out of the ground: in this climate, if the seed is not in the ground before 
the first of May, there is but little chance for a crop. It must be covered 
slightly and stamped well over with the hoe to close it well. I would re¬ 
commend, as most essential, to sow the seed sparingly. Even the best gar¬ 
deners are apt to put in too much seed. The consequence is, that the young 
plants come up so thick that they run up spiry and weak : and, when you 
come to thin them, you find great difficulty to pull up so many without in¬ 
juring those that you leave ; and the worst injury is what you do to the 
roots, which you tear and loosen. Therefore have seed of your own raising, 
or that you know is fresh, and sow sparingly.” 
In the N. E. Farmer , vol. iii, p. 265, are the observations of I. Tucker, 
Esq. of Salem, Mass., who says, “ The land should be plowed about four 
inches in depth, and harrowed so as to make it very fine ; the manure, which 
should always be a rich compost, should bellowed in and thoroughly 
mixed; the land should then be rolled with a heavy roller, to form a close 
bottom for the bulbs to form upon, and at the same time not so hard as to 
prevent the small roots of the plant from penetrating. The best onions and 
the largest crops are produced where the bulbs grow almost entirely on the 
top of the ground. After the ground has been rolled, and before the seeds 
are sown, the beds should be raked with a sharp iron rake, to prepare a 
finely pulverized drill for reception of the seed; and, after the seeds are 
sown, the drill should be pressed with a board and sufficient weight to bring 
the earth into close contact with the seed. Care should be taken in select¬ 
ing seed; none should be sown but such as will be sure to vegetate ; and it 
would be well if no more seed were to be sown than you would have plants 
to remain and grow in the drill. It would be superfluous to add that, if you 
would have a good crop of onions, you must not permit a crop of weeds to 
grow in the same bed; they will not grow well together.” 
Mr. Adams Knight of Newbury, Mass., received a premium of twenty 
dollars for having raised, in 1822, the greatest quantity of onions, being six 
hundred and fifty-one bushels on one acre. “The soil is a rich, gravelly 
loam, with a gravel bottom: in 1821 it was cultivated with onions and cab¬ 
bages, and was manured with about five cords of barn manure, and produced 
a good crop: after the crop was off the ground, there we 'e fi *e cords of 
barn manure and two and a half of leached ashes plowed in in April, 
