After the crop has been
taken, the ground should be treated as at first--thoroughly
enriched and pulverized late in autumn, and left to lie in a rough
state during the winter, then prepared for planting as early as
possible. I prefer March sowing of the seed to April, and April,
by far, to May. In England they try to plant in February. Indeed,
as I have said, I have had excellent success by sowing the seed
early in September on light soils, and letting the plants grow
during all the mild days of fall, winter, and early spring. By
this course we have onions fit for the table and market the
following May. In this latitude they need the protection of a
little coarse litter from December 1 to about the middle of March.
Only the very severest frost injures them. Most of us have seen
onions, overlooked in the fall gathering, growing vigorously as
soon as the thaws began in spring. This fact contains all the hint
we need in wintering over the vegetable in the open ground. If the
seed is sown late in September, the plants do not usually acquire
sufficient strength in this latitude to resist the frost. It is
necessary, therefore, to secure our main crop by very early spring
sowings, and it may be said here that after the second thorough
pulverization of the soil in spring, the ground will be in such
good condition that, if well enriched and stirred late in autumn,
it will only need levelling down and smoothing off before the
spring sowing.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205