eed. Stagnant moisture
is deadly to Onions, therefore swampy ground is most unfit; but a
sufficient degree of dryness for a summer crop may often be secured by
trenching, and leaving rather deep alleys between the beds to carry off
surface water during heavy rains.

==Manures.==--As almost any soil will suit the Onion, so also will almost
any kind of manure, provided that it be not rank or offensive. This
strongly flavoured plant likes good but sweet living, and it is sheer
folly to load the ground for it with coarse and stimulating manures. Yet
it is often done, and the result is a stiff-necked generation of bulbs
that refuse to ripen, or there may be complete failure of the crop
through disease or plethora. But any fertiliser that is at hand, whether
from the pigstye, or the sweepings of poultry yards or pigeon lofts, may
be turned to account by the simple process of first making it into a
compost with fresh soil, and then digging it in some time in advance of
the season for sowing, and in reasonable but not excessive quantity. All
such aids to plant growth as guano, charcoal, and well-rotted farmyard
manure, may be used advantageously for the Onion crop; but there are two
materials of especial value, and costing least of any, that are
universally employed by large growers, both to help the growth and
prevent maggot and canker. These are lime and soot, which are sown
together when the ground is finally prepared for the seed, and in
quantity only sufficient to colour the ground. They exercise a magical
influence, and those who make money by growing Onions take care to
employ them as a necessary part of their business routine.

==Spring-sown Onions== require to be put on rich, mellow ground, the top
spit of which is of a somewhat fine texture, and at the time of sowing
almost dry. Having been well dug and manured in good time, the top spit
only should be dug over when it is finally made ready for the seed. The
work must be done with care, and the beds should be marked off in
breadths of four feet, with one-foot alleys between. Break all lumps
with the spade, and work the surface to a regular and finely crumbled
texture. Light soil should be trodden over to consolidate it, and then
the surface may be carefully touched with the rake to prepare it for the
seed. March and April are the usual months for spring sowing, although
in mild districts seed is sometimes put in as early as January. Space
the rows from nine to twelve