XIV PREFACE 



"Another man in the same neighborhood raised a 

 wagon load in the same way, and brought them to 

 Medina, and sold them at once for eighty cents per 

 bushel at a time when ordinary onions were bringing 

 thirty cents per bushel." 



I might tell a good many instances of a similar 

 kind from my experiences during the past few years. 

 It is generally found, that if the trial is made properly, 

 and under circumstances not exactly unfavorable, the 

 result will be such as to make anyone with a natural 

 instinct for gardening, just as much of an enthusiast 

 as the man in Mr Root's story. 



After a full baker's dozen years of experience in 

 growing onions by the new system, I am still in doubt 

 whether to recommend it for general purposes of onion 

 growing or not. Theoretically I see no objection to 

 the substitution of the new for the old way even for 

 the production of the crop of ordinary onion varieties 

 for fall and winter use. The fact is to-day recognized 

 by all authorities, and stands without dispute, that 

 every one of our common onion sorts gives much 

 larger individual bulbs when the seedlings are started 

 early under glass than when seed is sown in open 

 ground in spring, as is the practice of the old style. 

 The crop is easily twice, possibly three and more times 

 as large. 



Farmers' Bulletin 39, issued by the United States 

 department of agriculture in 1896, says: "Experi- 

 ments have demonstrated that the transplanting system 

 has many advantages, the most important of which is, 

 perhaps, the increase in yield. This increase is due to 

 several causes. The plants receive a good start under 

 glass before they are set in the field, and thus have the 

 full advantage of the cool spring weather, which is 

 most favorable to rapid growth; when sown in the 

 field, a month or more is consumed before the plants 



