Food for tilizine, than the onion. The American farmer has usually 

 been willing to leave the growing of this savory vegetable 

 34 almost entirely to the enterprising foreign immigrant, who 

 often makes more net profit at the end of the season from 

 his five acres of onions than the. general farmer makes on 

 one hundred acres. The weeder and the improved wheel-hoe 

 have made it comparatively easy to care for the crop; there 

 is no reason why the progressive farmer who is looking 

 about for a New Money Crop should not raise onions 

 with ease and profit. 



We shall consider here the growing of onions only as a 

 field crop for the fall and winter market. The onion can be 

 successfully grown anywhere in the United States where 

 other vegetables thrive. 



The reason that onions have not been more generally 

 grown by farmers is owing to the mistaken idea that it is 

 impossible to grow them without the application of vast 

 quantities of stable manure, but Onion-growing with the 

 aid of chemical fertilizers is not only much cheaper, but the 

 average crop is much larger. The excessive quantity of 

 stable manure required to grow a maximum crop tends to 

 make the land too open, when the great secret of onion 

 culture is to get the land solidified. The ploughing under of 

 so much bulky manure also tends to cut off the moisture 

 supply from below, which is so important in the quick 

 growth of crops of this nature and which can only be 

 obtained by having the soil ver)^ compact and in fine tilth 

 so as to promote the capillary movement of the soil moisture 

 to the surface, where it may be retained for the use of 

 the crop by means of frequent and shallow cultivation. 



The advantage of using Nitrate of Soda instead of stable 

 manure as the source of Nitrogen for this crop is plainly 

 evident, as the Nitrate supplies the most beneficial ingre- 

 dient contained in the stable manure (Nitrogen), and in a 

 form in which it is not dependent upon soil bacteria and 

 weather conditions to make it available for the young 

 plants when they need it most. If it be necessary to add 

 humus to the soil in the form of stable manure it should, 

 if possible, be applied a year in advance. 



Considering the fact that Nitrogen is the element most 

 frequently lacking in our soils, and knowing that the onion 

 responds most liberally to a plentiful feeding of ammoniate 



