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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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