While onions are grown in all sorts of careless ways, like other vegetables, it is by far the best plan to select a space for an annual and permanent bed, just as we do for asparagus.  Unlike most other crops, the onion does not require change of ground, but usually does better on the same soil for an indefinite number of years.  Therefore I would advise that upon the Home Acre the onion, like the asparagus bed, should be made with a view to permanence.

Not much success can be hoped for on rough, poor land.  The onion, like the asparagus bed, should be made and maintained with some care.  If possible, select a light, well-drained, but not dry plot.  Make the soil rich, deep, mellow, to the depth of twenty inches, taking out all stones, roots, etc.; cover the land with at least six inches of good strong barnyard manure.  This should be done in the autumn.  Sow the ground white with salt, as in the case of asparagus, and then mingle these fertilizers thoroughly with the soil, by forking or plowing it at once, leaving the surface as rough as possible, so that the frost can penetrate deeply.  Just as soon as the ground is dry enough to work in the spring, fork or plow again, breaking every lump and raking all smooth, so that the surface is as fine as the soil in a hot-bed.  You cannot hope for much in heavy, lumpy ground.  Sow at least three seeds to the inch in a shallow drill one inch deep, and spat the earth firmly over the seed with the back of a spade or with your hand.  In subsequent culture little more is required than keeping the mere surface stirred with a hoe, and the rows clean of weeds.  Onions are not benefited by deep stirring of the soil, but the surface, from the start, should be kept clean and scarified an inch or two deep between the rows during the growing season.  I prefer to have my onions growing at the rate of one or two to every inch of row, for I do not like large bulbs.  I think that moderate-sized onions are better for the table.  Those who value largeness should thin out the plants to three or four inches apart; but even in the market there is less demand for large, coarse onions.  When the tops begin to fall over from their own weight, in August or September, leave them to mature and ripen naturally.  When the tops begin to dry up, pull them from the soil, let them dry thoroughly in the sun, and then spread them thinly in a dry loft till there is danger of their freezing.  Even there they will keep better, if covered deeply with straw, hay, etc., than in a damp cellar.  Wherever the air is damp and a little too warm, onions will speedily start to grow again, and soon become worthless.  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