CURRENT PUBLICATIONS IN RURAL ART. 529 
where one hundred thousand bushels are raised annually ; as well as the 
‘results of personal observation in other localities ; and facts gathered by 
correspondence with different sections of the Union. 
Onions thrive best on old grpund. ‘They have been grown in some 
parts of New England on the same spot for nearly a century, without 
any perceptible falling off in the quality or quantity of the crop, though 
some think that in such cases there is a greater liability to rust. They 
give the most satisfactory results on soils of light structure, such as a 
sandy loam, or even on a gravelly soil, if it is not of a leachy nature, and 
if it rests on a hard-pan bottom. It should be heavily manured with 
either Peruvian or fish guano, or pig and barn manure, night-soil, kelp, 
muscle-mud, superphosphate of lime, wood-ashes, or muck, all of which, 
used either alone or in compost, are excellent food for the onion. Wood 
ashes are generally used in connection with other manures, at the rate 
of about two hundred bushels to the acre. They must never be combined 
with other manures, as they would set the ammonia free, and thus de- 
teriorate their quality. They should be scattered on the surface at the 
time of planting, or when the crop is about half grown. 
The soil for onions does not require deep plowing; four or five inches 
are sufficient to insure a good crop. The great object is to get the land 
in a thoroughly fine condition, to facilitate the covering of the seed with 
fine earth ; to have the soil light, that there may be a vigorous growth 
of the plants, and to leave the land in good working condition for after 
culture. As onions, when grown from the seed, generally require the 
whole season to ripen, the ground should be prepared and the seed 
planted as early as possible in the spring. As a general rule three and 
a half pounds of seed are sufficient for an acre, or, if the land is very 
highly manured, four pounds may be planted with profit. This is where 
large onions are wanted for fall or winter use. But if it is designed to 
pull them when small for the early market, then seven or eight pounds 
will be required to the acre. There are many different machines used 
for sowing the seed. The Large Red, Yellow, and White are the three 
standard varieties in this country. The Danvers, a comparatively new 
sort, is very prolific and early. This and the Large Red are extensively 
raised tor market as well as for shipping. The Potato and Top onions 
are rather fancy sorts The former is very mild and pleasant to the 
taste, but rather a poor keeper. It has the advantage of being quite 
early, and not very liable to injury from the onion maggot when that 
pest abounds; it is best developed on soil rather moister than the 
varieties from seed require. The Top onion, though of mild and pleasant 
flavor, is coarsely and loosely made up, is a poor keeper, and has no 
particular merit over the common sorts. 
South of New Jersey onions cannot be relied on to mature the first 
year from seed, as the extreme heat of the climate forces the formation 
of the buib, and dries down the top quite early in the season. In the 
Southern States, therefore, two years are necessary to mature the crop. 
The seed is sown very thick, say thirty pounds to the acre; the crop 
matures in July, when it is pulled, stored in cool, airy lofts, and spread 
thinly over the floor. The next spring the bulbs are planted in rows, 
say ten inches apart, and two or three inches distant in the row. 
The onion crop is sometimes severely injured by rust or mildew. The 
tops of the leaves die, and the whole piant is more or less covered with 
patches of thin white dust, which stops the further growth of the bulb. 
This disease is most frequent in very wet seasons, and is more common 
on old onion beds than on new. ‘The best remedy known for old beds 
is to run the plow a little deeper, and thus bring up and mix in a little 
34 A 
