No. 4.] ONION GROWING. 259 



be necessary to raise and protect the crop until the time of 

 sale, and the grower agrees to pay to the owner such sums as 

 this shall be reasonably worth. These contracts are nearly 

 always fulfilled. Once in a while a crop does not look well 

 when it comes up on account of poor seed, or for some other 

 reason, and the grower will throw up his contract, and in so 

 doing forfeits what work he has already done. Cases have 

 occurred where, after the grower had given up his contract, 

 the owner has hired the same party to care for the crop at so 

 much per acre, and has made more money than he would had 

 the grower held to his agreement. 



Growing the Crop. 



After the owner has planned how many acres of onions he 

 will let out next year he will get busy in the fall, plow his 

 land, and if possible apply lime if his soil needs liming. The 

 onion crop is sown just as soon as the land is dry enough to 

 work in the spring, and so this fall work is essential. In the 

 spring every horse is at a premium, and a team with driver has 

 received $7.50 a day at this time. If, however, lime has not 

 been applied in the fall and is to be applied, then it is the first 

 job in the spring and should be followed by the wheel or cut- 

 away harrow, and right here is a good time to say that extra 

 team labor expended at this time will be time and money 

 saved later in hand hoeing and weeding. Team work is far 

 cheaper than hand work, and this is true of any crop: a 

 deep-plowed, well-fitted soil is an asset all the season through, 

 especially in case of drought. 



The plow that has become the most popular is the sulky, 

 because the dead furrow is obviated, which is a great advantage 

 in the onion field. The harrows used are mostly the wheel or 

 cutaway, the Acme and the Meeker smoothing harrow. After 

 the field is thoroughly wheel-harrowed the fertilizer is applied 

 with a fertilizer distributor, a machine universally used. This 

 machine is not only a labor-saver, but allows fertilizer to be 

 applied on a windy day, when hand work would be out of the 

 question. 



