112 ON ROOT CROPS, 



the spring, it will be a long while before the plants will re- 

 ceive the invigorating effects of the manure, which it requires 

 to bring forth the crop in full strength to an early maturity. 

 Shall we spread the manure, and plough it in deep in the fall ? 

 Shall we abandon our former method, and enter upon a new 

 era in the cultivation of the onion ? 



For the sake of experiment, in the fall of 1849 I spread the 

 manure upon an acre and a half of old onion land, as soon as 

 convenient after the crop was harvested, at the rate of six cords 

 per acre, and turned it in with a large plough drawn by a pair 

 of horses, as deep as if I had been turning over green sward. 

 There it lay pulverizing, through the winter; in the spring I 

 took a cultivator, and went over the land once each way. As I 

 was doing this I could see the fine particles of manure mixing 

 with the soil most admirably. I dispensed with the use of the 

 iron tooth harrow, bushed the land twice, raked, and sowed it. 

 The seed germinated, came forth, and grew with a vigorous 

 growth. When I came to hoe and weed, I found a great dif- 

 ference, compared with previous years. No hard lumps of dirt 

 or manure were found, to injure the fingers of the operator; it 

 was much easier to accomplish the same amount of labor as in 

 previous years, under the old method of preparing the land. 

 The roots of the plants penetrated to a depth heretofore ren- 

 dered impossible by the hardness of the sub soil. 



As the season has been unusually wet, I am unable to state 

 how the crop would have endured a drought. I think it must 

 be evident to the minds of all reasonable persons, that extreme- 

 ly dry weather would not have had so injurious an effect, as if 

 the land had been ploughed shoal in the spring, with the ma- 

 nure partially covered. The result of my experiment has prov- 

 ed so favorable, that I shall make another trial, and test the 

 utility of the practice another season. I shall plough in seven 

 cords of good stable manure to the acre, it being an addition 

 of one cord per acre. 



So well convinced am I of the feasibility of ploughing in 

 manure in the fall, for onions, that I should not hesitate for a 

 moment to recommend it to all onion growers. I therefore 

 ofier for your consideration the foregoing statement, as the re- 



