REPORTS ON CROPS. 273 



raised from. In other crops we can generally tell by the 

 looks of the seed whether it is good or not. Not so with 

 onions. It is impossible to tell by the looks of this seed 

 whetlier it will raise scallions, or the flat onion, or the round 

 deep onion, which is mostly raised in this section. 



I raised the flat onion when I first commenced the business. 

 Tiiey will not yield one third as much as the round onion ; 

 so we cannot judge what the result will be if we do not know 

 what kind of onions our seed was raised from. We have, by 

 selecting the large, round, deep onion from year to year, im- 

 proved our quality and quantity, so that we raise six to nine 

 hundred bushels where we once raised not more than three 

 to five hundred bushels. We select the most solid, largest,, 

 deepest, and brightest for seed. Seed-onions should be kept 

 from freezing. A light freezing will sometimes injiire the 

 chit, or germ. 



The best ground for raising them is level land with a deep, 

 soil, free from stones. But I have raised them successfully 

 on gravelly soil and quite stony. I prefer, however, a deep, 

 loamy soil. I would plant the ground with corn or potatoes. 

 — I prefer corn — one or two years. It should be highly ma-- 

 nured, and not a single weed allowed to go to seed. When 

 the corn crop is gatliered, prepare the ground in the fall for 

 next year's crop of onions, by putting on twenty cart loads of 

 well rotted manure, fifty bushels to the load, per acre. It 

 should be free from weed seed, and ploughed in deeply and. 

 not harrowed in the fall. I have ploughed my ground both 

 spring and fall, manuring at the same time. It is not more- 

 than half the work in the spring to prepare ground for the 

 seed that was ploughed in the fall, and the yield is as good if. 

 not better. Hog manure is the best, but any kind of strong 

 manure will do. 



All manure should be free from seed. Manure, either fine 

 or coarse, should be ploughed in deep. If ashes are to be- 

 liad, put on one to two lumdred bushels to the acre. The 

 crop of onions will pay for them the first year, and they wilL 

 last from five to eight years. Bone dust is a fine manure. . 

 The ground in the spring should be prepared for the seed as 

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