244 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



vary from one-half an inch on heavy soil to one inch on light, or 

 slightly more on light soil in a dry locality, is about the range. The 

 seeder should be set to drop the seeds about an inch apart in the 

 drill, which will use about four pounds to the acre. After sowing, 

 the ground can be firmed in any of the ways mentioned in Chapter 

 XI. A light roller is most expeditious and satisfactory if the soil 

 is in the right condition of moisture. 



Onion seed is sometimes rather slow in starting and the culti- 

 vation should not wait until the plants appear. Mr. S. J. Murdock, 

 of Orange county, shows how skillfully the hand wheel hoe can be 

 used in the onion field. 



After seeding, thorough, shallow cultivation is essential. Do not wait 

 until the plants are up before beginning ; from four to eight days will be 

 proper, or when the seed begins to show signs of germinating, which can 

 be ascertained by carefully brushing the soil from the drill row. I put the 

 curved hoes on my wheel hoe, with the straight ends of the hoes pointing 

 inwards and lapping about two inches and hoe right over the rows but not 

 deep enough to disturb the seed. It saves a great amount of hand-weeding 

 by killing the weeds just starting to grow in the rows. As soon as the 

 onions are up sufficiently to follow the rows, I reverse my hoes, with the 

 curved ends next to the rows, just far enough apart so as to hoe as close as 

 possible without cutting the young plants by running the hoes astride the 

 rows. This operation hoes both sides of the row at one trip of the machine. 

 Follow this by hand- weeding; this operation is best performed by the crawl- 

 ing process, that is, by getting down on hands and knees astride of a row 

 and pulling every weed in sight, and loosening the soil around and between 

 the plants. Repeat this as often as any weeds are to be found, and under 

 no circumstances allow the weeds to grow above the onions; at the same 

 time keep the wheel hoe at work between the rows and as close as possible. 



It is desirable to use plenty of seed in field sowing. Sometimes 

 it is possible to make something from the young onions while thin- 

 ning the plants to about four inches apart in the rows, but usually 

 the thinning is done before the plants get to the size of top onions. 



As previously said, the bulb of the onion should be at the 

 ground surface, and the dirt should not be thrown to any extent 

 on the onions by cultivation. The roots should be well covered, but 

 not the bulb. 



Transplanted Onions. Next to growth from the seed, the 

 transplanting of small seedlings from the seed-bed to the field, is 

 most practiced in California. This method has recently been pro- 

 claimed in the eastern and southern states as a "new onion culture," 



