TRUCK FARMING. 619 



The seed is sown of both under glass in September. The stand 

 nnder glass is 5 to 6 inches each way, and in the open field 8 inches in 

 the row, with the lines 18 inches apart. 



The crop under glass is marketed during February and March, the 

 otlier in April, both in crates exclusively. 



Any well-drained, rich, mellow soil will i)roduce good lettuce. 



It enjoys great freedom from insect depredations. 



The Onion {Allium cepa). 



A few only of the many varieties of the onion are grown for market. 



It had long been erroneously held that the onion could not be grown 

 at the South from seed. I was probably the first, in 18G0, to prove other- 

 wise. 



The aim of the truck farmer should be to get his crop into market 

 when it is most bare of the same article from other sections. With this 

 vegetable it is difficult to do so. The first spring crop comes from Ber- 

 muda from seed grown in the Canary Islands of the Madeira onion. 

 The next, other than from the extreme South, is the Potato onion, grown 

 at Norfolk from sets. About June 15 the supply from Bermuda is gen- 

 erally nearly exhausted, and the Southern crops should then be sent to 

 market. 



The best varieties are the foreign Madeira, the small White Queen, 

 and Giant Eocca. No seed but of the previous crop should be used. 

 The onion, being very hardy, may be sown at any time during the fall, 

 but those put in about January 1 will escape the usually inclement 

 weather of December, and will come in early enough. 



The best soil is a deep, rich, friable mold, such as is frequently found 

 in river bottoms. Such turf meadow land near Chester, K. Y., produces 

 from 800 to 1,400 bushels of the common Wethersfield onion. The 

 onion crop is one of the most difficult ones to keep clean, and, if possi- 

 ble, newly-cleared land, free of grass and weed seed, should be selected, 

 but whatever the land may be it should be thoroughly prepared and be 

 clear of lumps. Hog manure is generally considered the best for this 

 crop. If stable manure is used it should not be mixed too much with 

 coarse litter to prevent its being plowed under shallow. Fermented 

 manure is best on account of not having so many live seed mixed with 

 it. The land having been manured broadcast with at least Ibrty loads 

 of good manure or its equivalent of fertilizer, it should be plowed in nar- 

 row lands of 15 to 20 feet, the water-furrows to act as auxiliary drains. 

 After being thoroughly fined the seed are drilled in 15 inches apart, and 

 in fair weather will be up in two weeks, when the stirring should com- 

 mence at once. Indeed without thorough cultivation and hand- weeding 

 there is no chance of success in onion growing at the South, where the 

 growth of grass and weeds is so troublesome. At least four hoein gs, th e 

 push or Dutch hoe being preferable, will be necessary. 



They should be thinned to 3 or 4 inches in the row, the White Queen 

 not requiring as severe thinning as other varieties, they being the surest 

 of any to bulb properly. As transplanted onions take root very readily 

 vacant spaces may be supplied, the roots of the young plants being first 

 cut back to a length of about 1 inch. 



The crop being wanted for immediate use and not for storing, the on- 

 ions are to be puUed as they successively indicate maturity by toppling 

 over. After being left on the ground to dry for a couple of days the 

 necks are cut off an inch or so from the bulb and the onions carefully 

 packed in bushel crates. 



