40 ON ROOT CULTURE. 



in solecliiag the host formed onions for seed. Great improvement 

 has been made in the quality witliin a few years, by care in the se- 

 lection of onions for seed. I usually weed them twice with care. 

 I now use a machine for the hoeing which moves on wheels, and di- 

 minishes the labor very much. A man with a machine will readily 

 hoc an acre in a day. The next process is the pulling and throwing 

 them into beds. When this is done, if the weather is fair they will 

 need to be turned once with a rake ; and then in about two weeks 

 after they are pulled, they will be in a condition to be gathered. 

 They are sorted by children. I have frequently known boys and 

 girls of ten years of age, sort fifty bushels in a day. The usual 

 allowance for this is one cent a basket. Lot No. 2. has been culti- 

 vated with the onion for about ten years. It is land of very good 

 quality. The crops on this was extraordinary good. Lot No. 3. 

 was never before cultivated with the onion. It is a hard, rocky 

 strong soil. The average quantity of manure on all the land was 

 about five cords to the acre. The land on which these crops were 

 raised, in its present condition, is worth about two hundred dollars 

 per acre. Care has been taken in years past to prevent the weeds 

 seeding upon the land ; and hence the labor of cultivation, has been 

 much lessened. Myself, and a boy about fifteen years old, have 

 done all the labor, excepting about twelve dollars worth hired by the 

 day. I have other lands and crops to attend to ; so that not so 

 much as half our time has been applied to the onions. Our crop 

 the present season amounts to nineteen hundred and eighty bushels 

 of onions, as fair as I have ever seen — with few small ones or skillions 

 to be thrown out. They now sell readily at half a dollar a bushel, 

 cash payment. Last winter they advanced to nearly double the au- 

 tumnal price. 



I have given a statement of all my fields of onions, without any 

 selection of pieces, — the same having been cultivated without any 

 extra care, or intention of publication. We m Danvers thmk we 

 have made great improvements in the cultivation of this crop within 

 a few years, and have been willing to continue them among ourselves. 

 But still, I do not hesitate to state the facts just as they are, and if any 

 one is willing to follow this mode of cultivation, and work as hard as I 

 have done, I cannot doabt he will fini a fair reward for his labor. 



JOHN PEASLEE. 



Danvcrs, September 25th, 1847. 



