Onions
Onions often fail to sprout in heavy soil. This may be made to do so by
the following method:
After the ground has been made thoroughly fine make shallow furrows
for the rows with the hand hoe or the wheelhoe. In these, pour dry,
sifted sand, partially filling them. A convenient way to do this is to
use a large tin can with a 3/a/' hole punched in the bottom. Sow the seed
thinly on the sand and cover it with not more than 1/4"of sand applied
in the same way as before.
In due time the seedlings will appear and if the seed is of good sprouting
quality make a far better stand than from even thicker sowings in
the same soil but when sown in the ordinary way.
The sand serves the double purpose of marking the position of each row,
thus enabling cultivation to start immediately after sowing; and,
as sand does not puddle, it permits the weak little onion shoots to push
to the surface with the least possible resistance. Clean cultivation
and a surface dressing of fertilizer are all that are necessary after
germination to make the seedlings develop into good sized bulbs.
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