Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farmivg. 1 1 



bers, which only stay in the ground a few weeks, are taken after 

 spring cabbages, and onions follow the cucumbers. For onions 

 it is required that the ground should be well worked, but at 

 the same time it must have a fairly firm surface. If they are 

 for seeding, or for pulling early, for which a sort known as the 

 " two-bladed " is the best, it is better that the farmyard-manure 

 should be scuffled in, and not buried by the plough. About 

 60 lbs. of seed are sown broadcast and harrowed lightly in, as 

 early as possible in the spring, so that there may be no danger 

 of frosts, which much injure the tender shoots. 



Pickle-makers make contracts with growers for onions, and a 

 considerable amount of labour is required to pull them and peel 

 them. If onions are intended for "bulbing," that is for large 

 bulbs for storing, very much less seed is sown. It is an 

 expensive process to keep the ground free from weeds where 

 pickling or salad onions are grown, costing from 4/. to 5/. per 

 acre. The gross return in exceptionally good years amounts to 

 150/. per acre, as was shown in the Report on the Market-garden 

 Farm Competition in 1879*. Lisbon onions are sown in the 

 autumn for " bunching." About 50 lbs. of seed are sown broad- 

 cast upon well-manured and well-prepared land ; the onions are 

 pulled in May and June, and are sent to market in bundles 

 containing as many as a man can hold in his hand arranged in 

 a fanlike shape, packed in layers in baskets for salads and for 

 eating in the way in which labourers so enjoy theaa, raw with 

 bread and cheese. These return, in good seasons, as much as 

 from 50/. to 70/. per acre. 



Careots are also a favourite crop of market-garden farmers, 

 who grow them upon a large scale, and it is not uncommon to 

 see fields of seven and even ten acres planted with them. 

 Gardeners who live near towns often make a good thing by 

 getting carrots early, and a iew pounds might be made in this 

 way in many farm-gardens without much trouble. Carrots are 

 extensively grown by market-garden farmers and market- 

 gardeners for " bunching " — that is for pulling when quite 

 small. They may be taken after potatoes, or coleworts, or 

 cabbages. The land requires to be well ploughed in the 

 autumn, and well-made farmyard-manure should be scuffled in, 

 and about 10 lbs. of seed, mixed with a little finely tritu- 

 rated earth sown broadcast as soon in the spring as the weather 

 allows. Pulling is commenced when they are about half an inch 

 in diameter. From twenty to forty are put in a bunch. The 

 bunches are packed in crates and baskets, and bring from 2s. 



* 'Report upon the Market-garden and Market-garden Farm Competition, 

 1879,' by Charles Whitehead. 'Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,' 

 vol. XV. s.s. Part II. 



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