1 Seprr., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 237 
Now there are two ways of planting onions. One is to sow the seed in the 
rows in which the plant is to grow permanently; and the other is to sow in seed 
beds, and afterwards transplant to the permanent ground. Each of these 
systems has its advocates; and as there is a good deal to be said for both, it may 
not be amiss to describe both methods. 
First, let us take the old style of sowing right away in the field. Get good 
seed to begin with—new seed for choice, because old seed loses a good deal of 
its germinating power, and in onion-growing much depends upon the quality of 
the seed.* Four pounds of seed to the acre will be ample. 
The usual time of sowing here is in March and April; and the seed may be 
sown in either of those months as soon as the ground is ready, and while it is 
yet moist on the surface. The ground should be first marked out in perfectly 
straight rows from 2 to 3 feet apart. If the sowing is to be done by hand, 
shallow drills not more than 3-ine deep should be made, the seed sown thinly 
and evenly, the drill filled in and raked over, and the ground afterwards rolled. 
To sow a large area, hand work is too slow and expensive; and a Planet Jr. seed 
drill should be used, which opens the drill, sows the seed, covers it and rolls it, 
and at the same time marks the line for the next drill. 
Now, the great thing in onion-growing, as I have already stated, is to keep 
the ground clear of weeds. If they are once allowed to get ahead of the crop, 
it is an almost hopeless business to try to get rid of them. As soon as ever the 
onions appear above ground, so that the rows can be distinguished, the hoe must 
be set to work. The best implement to use is a wheel hoe, which can be worked 
on both sides of a row at once, and gets over the ground at a surprisingly quick 
ace. ‘This implement, in careful hands, will clean the ground to within half- 
an-inch of the plants on each side, and the rest of the work must be done by 
hand. An old table knife or a piece of hoop iron with a wooden handle is very 
useful for cleaning among the young plants, and, if the weeding is done 
thoroughly the first time, it will be an easy matter to keep the ground clean 
afterwards. But understand: This weeding has got to be done, and done 
thoroughly, or your crop will be a failure. 
The weeds must be tackled as soon as they appear, and the fight with them 
must go on until they are thoroughly under command. The onions will 
_ probably require thinning when 4 or 5 inches high. 
From this point, the work, under both the old and new systems of onion 
culture, becomes the same; so we will now describe the second method of 
lanting. 
Under this system, the seed, instead of being sown in the field, is started 
in a seed bed, in drills a few inches apart. When 6 inches high, the plants 
are taken up and transplanted to the field, which has been previously prepared 
in precisely the same way as for sowing. The young plants, as they are taken 
from the seed bed, are trimmed root and top with a knife to make them strong 
and sturdy, and cause them to develop fresh roots. They are then planted 
with a dibber, about 8 inches apart in the rows. The plants must not be set 
too deeply in the ground—only just enough to keep them firm. Only the root 
and about 3-inch of the bulb should be in the ground, 
The advantages of this system are that the plants, being 6 inches high 
when set out, have a long start of the weeds, and consequently are easier to 
keep clean; also, transplanted onions usually make much larger bulbs than 
those sown and grown in the same place. 
The old method is much easier to begin with as far as the planting is 
concerned, but this is made up for in the weeding, and the onions do not grow 
so large. As, however, in this country, large onions do not seem to be much in 
fayour, this may not be much of a disadvantage. In any case the grower must 
be prepared for a backache which he will not forget for atime. He will get 
this in weeding by the old system, and in transplanting by the new. 
ee 
* Of 20 1b. of seed imported from Germany, packed in bags, we failed to raise a single plant ; 
“yet the seed was fresh when shipped.—Ed. Q..4.J. 3 
