Onions appear to do best on a compact soil, if
rich, deep, and clean. It is the SURFACE merely that needs to be
stirred lightly and frequently.
If young green onions with thin, succulent tops are desired very
early in spring, it will be an interesting experiment to sow the
seed the latter part of August or early in September. Another
method is to leave a row of onions in the garden where they
ripened. When the autumn rains begin, they will start to grow
again. The winter will not harm them, and even in April there will
be a strong growth of green tops. The seed stalk should be picked
off as soon as it appears in spring, or else the whole strength
will speedily go to the formation of seed.
It should be remembered that good onions can not be produced very
far to the south by sowing the small gunpowder-like seed. In our
own and especially in warmer climates a great advantage is secured
by employing what are known as "onion sets." These are produced by
sowing the ordinary black seed very thickly on light poor land.
Being much crowded, and not having much nutriment, the seed
develop into little onions from the size of a pea to that of a
walnut, the smaller the better, if they are solid and plump.
These, pressed or sunk, about three inches apart, into rich garden
soil about an inch deep, just as soon as the frost is out, make
fine bulbs by the middle of June.
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