248 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



HARVESTING. When the tops have fallen, and the larger 

 part of them are dry, the crop is ready to pull, and three or 

 four rows should be thrown together. If there are any weeds, 

 be sure and destroy them at this time. At the end of a week 

 stir carefully with a wooden rake, taking pains not to bruise 

 them, and repeat as often as necessary ; and when dried so as 

 to feel hard they are ready for market or storing, and they may 

 be taken to the barn and spread two feet deep, but the doors 

 should be left open in pleasant weather. The sorting and top- 

 ping can be done as they are wanted for market. 



I would advise selling in the fall whenever a fair price can 

 be had, as there is both labor and risk in wintering. The best 

 way to winter is to spread them on the floor of an outbuilding 

 to the depth of eighteen inches, and leave them till frozen hard. 

 Then cover, to the depth of two feet, with hay or straw. If 

 you have long straw in bundles nothing else will be necessary ; 

 but if loose straw or hay is used, it will be best to cover first 

 with sheets, so as to keep the chaff or broken straw from mix- 

 ing with them. The onions should not be put against the wall, 

 but a space of eighteen inches left, and packed with hay 

 or straw. 



Under favorable circumstances the crop is enormously profit- 

 able. I have seen six hundred bushels grown to the acre when 

 the price was two and a half dollars a bushel, but such yield 

 and price are exceptional. At one dollar per bushel, and a yield 

 of two hundred bushels per acre, the crop will be found a profit- 

 able one. 



In closing I will sum up the requisites for successful onion 

 growing, which are : First, clean, rich land ; second, plenty of 

 good, fine manure, with no foul seeds in it; third, thorough 

 preparation of the soil; fourth, good seed, properly sown; fifth, 

 clean culture. The gardener who begins with a small area, and 

 increases as he gains experience, will be likely to make a suc- 

 cess of onion growing. 



Turnips. The turnip can be so easily grown, on account 

 of its quick maturity, and so cheaply, because it can be grown 

 as a second crop, and generally with no cultivation, that it de- 



