In the south, about the middle of April is generally a suitable time for transplanting to open beds, but in the event of a cold east wind prevailing a brief delay is advisable and it is always an advantage to plant out on a dull day or in showery weather.  Space the rows twelve to eighteen inches apart, and allow about fifteen inches between plants in the rows.  In the actual work of transplanting take care to insert only the fibrous roots in the soil.  To bury any portion of the stem results in thickened necks.  Finish with a dusting of soot over the entire bed, including the Onions, and then well spray from a fine rose to settle the soil around the roots.  Until the plants are established continue the spraying daily.  After the middle of May renew the dusting of the bed with soot and repeat at fortnightly intervals.  About the 20th of June feeding the Onions must commence.  Peruvian guano and nitrate of soda are both excellent, but these powerful artificials need using with discretion, or the crop may be scorched instead of stimulated.  It is often safer to employ them in liquid form than dry, and ten ounces of either, dissolved in ten gallons of water, will suffice for thirty square yards.  Use the two articles alternately at intervals of ten days and cease at the end of July.  If continued longer, some of the finest bulbs will split.  The use of soot can, however, be regularly maintained.  Should bulbs be required for autumn exhibition carefully lift them a week or ten days in advance of the show date.  This has the effect of making the bulbs firm and reducing the size of the necks.

Supposing an attack of mildew to occur, a dusting of flowers of sulphur will prove effective if applied immediately the disease appears.  Sulphide of potassium, one ounce to a gallon of water, is also a reliable remedy.

==July and August Sowing==.—­During these months seed of the quick-growing types of Onion may be sown for producing an abundant supply of salading and small bulbs during the autumn and onwards.  It is important to thin the plants early in order that those left standing in the rows may have every opportunity of developing rapidly.

==Autumn-sown Onions==, intended for use in the following summer, may also be sown in the same way as advised for spring sowing.  The time of sowing is important, as the plants should be forward enough before winter to be useful, but not so forward as to be in danger of injury from severe frost.  On well-drained ground all the sorts are hardy, and the finest types, which are so much prized as household and market Onions, may be sown in autumn as safely as any others.  It may be well in most places to sow a small plot:  in the latter part of July, and to make a large sowing of the best keeping sorts about the middle of August—­say, for the far north the first of the month, and for the far south the very last day.  Thin the plants in the rows and transplant the thinnings, if required, as soon as weather permits in February.  In places where spring-sown Onions do not ripen in good time in consequence of cold wet weather, autumn sowing may prove advantageous, as the ripening will take place when the summer is at its best, and the crop may be taken off before the season breaks down.