ESSEX SOCIETY. 33 



gaged in haying ; and when I looked at my onions, found the 

 field completely covered with parsley ; so that I was fearful the 

 crop was spoiled. We immediately applied ourselves to pulling 

 out the weeds, and taking them away by cartloads. All parts 

 of the field were essentially injured by this process, and a severe 

 wind that soon followed : where the weeds were first cleared, 

 the crop was best. I selected, gathered and measured ten rows 

 together, which yielded four and one half bushels to the square 

 rod — or at the rate of 720 bushels to the acre. Had it not been 

 for the weeds and the wind, I know no reason why the entire 

 lot would not have yielded in the same proportion. We have 

 gathered and sold four hundred bushels, and have a few remain- 

 ing. I have had eleven acres of other vegetables to take care 

 of, fifty acres of grass to mow, and the milk of twelve cows to 

 distribute. These facts I mention, as explaining the reason 

 why my onions did not receive all proper care. Those who 

 make it their special business to attend to this crop, can well 

 have them in greater 'perfection. 



1 have spoken of using old, well-rottedj manure. I presume 

 green manure from cattle, if it can be well mingled with the soil, 

 will do quite as well, or better, as it has more strength. Where 

 the onion land is sloping or liable to wash, care should be taken 

 to guard against this by ploughing furrows about one rod apart. 



I estimate the net income of my best half- acre of onions, the 

 present year, to be not less than seventy-five dollars ; and for the 

 whole period I have raised them, to be not less than fifty dollars 

 a year. 



Danvers, October 30th, 1847. 



James P. King's Statement. 



My cultivation of onions, the present year, has been on a lot 



of land containing one acre and one third. In 1842 it was broken 



up and planted with corn. About four cords of compost manure 



were then applied. It yielded about fifty bushels to the acre. In 



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