126 Commercial Gardening 



Market Culture. This crop has the valuable advantage of being one 

 of the few possible to a market gardener that need not be marketed at 

 the moment of attaining maturity. A good crop of Onions well harvested 

 will provide something to go to market with all through the winter, and 

 none but those who have experienced it know the worry of the period 

 from Christmas to March, with wages to be met weekly, rent and rates to 

 be paid, baskets and rods to be bought, manure to be got in, with the land 

 nearly all empty requiring cultivation and cropping. 



Onions, to be successful, should be grown on clean land. The grower 

 who spares the hoe and lets the weeds go to seed to save wages had 

 better not attempt Onion growing. It is a wise practice, even for the 

 clean grower, to follow Onions after a crop such as Savoys, in which 

 during the previous summer it has been easy to keep the weeds down. 

 The land for Onions should be ploughed up by Christmas, and they 

 pay for a coat of manure. 



Sowing takes place at the end of February or beginning of March, 

 as soon as the land is dry enough to be properly worked. In fact the 

 precise time is of less consequence than getting the land in proper order, 

 which includes getting it quite fine and well rolled, for an indispensable 

 cultural condition for Onions is to get the soil well firmed underneath 

 without " panning " it. The seed is sown in drills 8 or 9 in. apart, and 

 10 Ib. of seed are enough for 1 ac. The seed only wants putting just 

 under the ground; in other words, requires but a slight covering of soil. 



To get the land in proper tilth for this the last operations must 

 be two-horse harrows, followed by one-horse harrows, followed by one- 

 horse roll, followed by light seed harrows. After drilling, the light seed 

 harrows must be run over the land only on very light land and in dry 

 weather followed by the one-horse roll. A very good plan is to run 

 a set of light harrows with well-sharpened tines over the "bed" as soon 

 as the seed has sprouted. This will destroy a good many weeds without 

 hurting the crop. As soon as the seed is well up the hoeing must be 

 taken in hand. The time to destroy the weeds is when they are small; 

 a delay of a day or two then may double the cost of hoeing. 



A good many Onion growers let the hoeing by contract. The price 

 in normal seasons on land of average cleanliness is 5 per acre to keep 

 the crop clean and leave it clean on 12 July. Some pay 1 more and 

 extend the time to 1 August. Pay is drawn by the men on the basis 

 of the time put in, although, of course, the grower always takes care to 

 keep sufficient balance in hand for a completion of the undertaking. 



As a preventive to Onion Mildew some sow 1 cwt. of sulphate of 

 iron to the acre, and, to improve the keeping quality, 1 cwt. of sulphate 

 of potash before the seed is sown. It is not wise to use manure of a 

 nitrogenous character too freely, as this is apt to make the onions too 

 soft for long keeping. Soot both before and after sowing is a favourite 

 manure with many. 



When the tops are quite dried off, the onions are ripe for pulling. 



