380 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



stalks attached to them to aid in perfecting the ripening process. These should be spread 

 thinly in a warm, dry place, and frequently stirred, that the drying may be uniform, and 

 moulding prevented. When thoroughly dried, the seed should be shelled and cleaned 

 through a fine seive. It is well to afterwards winnow it in order to get out as many of the 

 imperfect seeds as possible. It is customary for some seed-growers to separate the imperfect 

 from the sound seed by putting the whole in water, and after stirring it thoroughly, skim off 

 all that rise to the surface, after which all the seed that sinks to the bottom is taken out and 

 carefully dried. If this practice is to be followed, we would not recommend it in the autumn, 

 but rather in the spring, just before sowing; then there would be no danger of loss of seed 

 from molding, through excess of moisture, and imperfect drying. The drying should be in 

 a warm place, but not near a fire. After the seed is thoroughly dried, it should be stored in 

 a dry place, where it will not be liable to gather moisture. The seed used should be fresh 

 every year, it being of little value the second year. 



Harvesting and Storing. When most of the tops are fallen over and look dead, 

 the onions are ready to be harvested. The usual method is to pull them by hand, throwing 

 the product of six or eight rows together into a windrow to dry, but this is a laborious pro 

 cess. When very ripe they may be raked out with a common hand rake. It would be well if 

 some machine were invented for cutting the tops first, after which they could easily be raked 

 out. An implement of some kind for running under the rows to cut the roots aids materially 

 in the harvesting process, as the bulbs can then be very readily raked out. They should be 

 left on the ground until the tops are all dead and the bulbs feel hard and solid ; this sometimes 

 requires two weeks or more ; during the time they should be raked over with a hay rake every 

 two or three days, especially after every rain, in order to hasten the drying process. When 

 the tops are well cured and the bulbs hard and solid, they may be taken off the field in a dry 

 day, and stored on the floor in a dry shed or barn, tops and all, if not spread over three feet 

 deep. Careless handling, causing cuts or bruises, will result in a loss, as such bulbs will decay 

 in a short time. 



Where the crop is not to be sold for use at once, care must be taken that the tops are dry 

 close to the bulbs, as nearly the whole top will sometimes seem to be dry when the neck is green, 

 and if cut in this state the bulb will soon decay. In order to keep well, therefore, the tops 

 must be entirely dry and dead before cutting. When not convenient to cut at this stage, and 

 they are not intended for immediate sale, the cutting is often delayed until winter. This may 

 be done with a sharp knife, but the best implement for doing it is an old pair of sheep shears, 

 or a pair of common shears with the blade cut off nearly half-way down. The larger ones 

 may then be separated from the small ones, and are ready for market, or storage until spring. 

 The smallest, or those about the size of a small walnut, will sometimes bring a fair price for 

 use as pickles. 



Whether it will pay the grower best to sell the crop in the fall, or to store them for sale 

 in the spring, will depend upon a combination of circumstances, such as the state of the mar 

 ket, the locality, etc. This crop sometimes brings a very high price in the spring when they 

 are scarce in the market; still there is considerable risk in keeping them, as they are liable to 

 decay badly during some seasons. When they are very plenty, and the pieces are low in the 

 spring, they will not prove as profitable to the grower to be kept over as a fall sale. 



When designed for winter sales, they are generally kept in a cold, dark cellar in barrels 

 or bins, after the cold weather sets in. If the barrels in which they are stored have pieces 

 cut out of their sides with a hatchet, thus giving better ventilation, they will be liable to 

 keep better. The barrels should be covered at the heads to exclude the light, in order to 

 prevent sprouting, and all bins used for storage should have the light excluded by some kind 

 of covering that will not keep out the air, and cause them to gather moisture and become 

 heated. Good ventilation and a cool, dry temperature are essential to their keeping well. 



