ONIONS 233 



Another way to produce the early onion crop in the South is to sow the 

 seed rather thickly in August on land that is naturally mellow and moist, 

 and which is heavily fertilized with a fertilizer mixture containing a large 

 percentage of potash, the formula for which is given under the proper head. 

 This crop should be well cultivated through the fall, and it will be found that 

 if the fall weather is favorable some of the onions will grow to quite a size, 

 and these it is best to thin out and use for pickling onions. Hence the 

 reason for rather thick sowing. As cold weather comes on the earth is drawn 

 to each side the rows as a winter protection and to be removed as the weather 

 warms in early March, to give the onions a chance to bulb on the surface. In 

 cold latitudes the cold frame can be utilized for the fall onion crop. 



THE GENERAL CROP OF ONIONS. 



When it comes to the growing of ripe onions for keeping and shipping 

 there is no need for sets either North or South. It is simply a matter of 

 earlier sowing and earlier ripening in the South. The onion prefers a moist 

 soil abounding in humus, so that it can have uniformity of moisture during 

 its growth. Hence reclaimed swamp lands are well suited to the crop and 

 in many sections such reclaimed areas are being very largely devoted to the 

 onion crop. At the same time, such soils are apt to^be particularly deficient 

 in the potash so essential to a good onion crop, and while the soil is apparent- 

 ly very rich, the onion crop would fail to bulb well. It will not do to assume 

 that any soil is rich enough to grow onions without any fertilizer. With a 

 crop that varies so largely in quantity all the way from a few bushels per 

 acre to over a thousand bushels, it is evident that the presence of a lavish 

 supply of plant food in a readily available form is essential to the produc- 

 tion of onions. A buried clover sod or a pea fallow in the South are favor- 

 able places for the onion crop, if the soil is of the right mechanical make 

 up. A mellow loam inclining rather to sand than clay is the best for the 

 onion crop. The fertilizer is applied in the same way as advised for the fall 

 planting of sets in the South. The beds are rolled nearly flat, but we find 

 that it is a great advantage to have the seed drilled a little above the general 

 level, and in all garden crops that are grown from seed direct, we always make 

 these beds rather than drill on the flat surface. It is easy then to start the 

 horse cultivation at once, and while the use of hand cultivators may be eco- 

 nomical on small areas or high priced land we have always found it more 

 economical to fertilize in the furrow, and to work the crop as far as possible 

 with the weeder and cultivator, the latter, a small tooth many toothed imple- 



