I06 THE NEW ONION CULTURE 



Spread in a dry place with the tops on, as they Keep 

 better in this way. In September the tops are cleaned 

 off and the sets prepared for planting. This can be 

 done at any time in the fall up to November, but the 

 earlier the better. 



We mark off the land in rows twenty inches 

 apart or even less, for all the cultivation needed can 

 easily be done with a wheel hoe run by man power. 

 Light mellow soil is needed, and it should be high and 

 well drained. In the furrows we place about looo 

 pounds per acre of a mixture of 900 pounds of acid 

 phosphate, 600 pounds of cottonseed meal, and 400 

 pounds of muriate of potash to make a top. This 

 has a furrow thrown over it from each side, making a 

 sharp list. The lists are flattened somewhat and in 

 shallow furrows made on them the sets are planted 

 deeply so that they will be about on the level soil 

 when the earth is drawn from them in February, but 

 we set them deep as a winter protection. These sets 

 are for the early green onion only. For a ripe crop 

 we prepare the land thoroughly and sow the seed in 

 the spring about the middle of February and thin 

 them when up to about three inches in the row. We 

 use the same fertilization as for the fall sets. For 

 this crop we have found nothing better than the 

 Southport White Globe, as it keeps better than any 

 onion we have grown, and we have tested eighteen 

 or twenty other varieties. 



The yellow Potato onion is about the earliest ripe 

 onion that can be put on the market, and it generally 

 pays very well, because the market is at that time 

 pretty bare of ripe onions. But the Potato onion must 

 be sold as soon as ripe, for it is a poor keeper. It 

 makes no seed, but produces offsets from the bulbs, 

 which are set in the fall as other sets, a small set 

 making a big onion and a larger one two to three of 



