16 



HOW TO RAISE ONIONS. 



tween the thumb and knife, at the same time swing up 

 the pail to the standing stalk, and a slight draw with 

 the right hand severs the head from the stalk, which 

 falls into the pail, with all loose seed which would 

 otherwise be lost. The pails, as they become full, are 

 emptied into bags, and taken to the drying-barn. It is 

 not an extraordinary day's work for a man to cut ten 

 bushels seed per day. 



Drying the seed requires some care, and neglect in 

 -his branch is the cause of great loss by failures in the 

 germination of the seed. Onion-seed, to be cured pro- 

 perly, and insure entire success in germination, should 

 be dried in the shade, spread upon a smooth level 

 floor, and not more than three inches thick. It should 

 be turned twice every day, until perfectly dry. The 

 first quality of seed is obtained from that which shells 

 while turning; that which remains, and has to be 

 threshed from, the balls, being light, and of inferior 

 quality. 



SOIL. That best adapted to the growth of onions is 

 a deep mellow loam, resting on a dry, porous sub-soil. 

 Although a vegetable of very shallow root, yet the 

 onion delights in a deep, finely-pulverized soil. Cold, 

 wet clay-sand seldom produces good crops, unless 

 thoroughly underdrained, and otherwise mechanically 

 prepared. 



PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. Soil, containing 

 the natural requisites, namely, dry, mellow, and fertile, 

 should be ploughed in the fall, previous to sowing the 

 crop. Twenty loads, of one cord each, of well-rotted 

 manure, prepared by shoveling over two or three times 

 the summer previous, should be spread upon each acre. 

 At each turning, put the outside of the heap into the 

 middle of the pile, thus destroying thousands of weed- 

 seeds that would otherwise grow, causing much extra 

 labor to eradicate them. The manure thus prepared is 

 spread evenly upon the ground, and turned under with 

 the plough from five to six inches deep, and thus re- 

 mains till spring, leaving the frost to pulverize the sur- 

 face, and destroy all insects whose winter-quarters have 

 been made beneath the surface, and whose eggs and 

 Iarva3 can not stand the severity of our winters, when 

 exposed to the weather from November till April. 



As soon in the spring as the weather and the soil 

 will permit, the bed should be cross-ploughed, leaving 

 the furrows upon edge as much as possible, so that a 

 harrowing will mix the manure with the soil. It 

 should be harrowed across the furrows, and raked 

 lengthwise of them by hand. 



PLANTING. Draw a line at one side of the bed, and 

 prepare a marker by taking a piece of scantling four 

 by four, or any other convenient size, and bore four inch- 

 holes, twelve inches apart. In these insert four pins 

 for teeth, a^.d make a hole in the middle of the piece, 

 at right angles to the teeth, for a handle. With this, 

 draw marks parallel with the line, and the ground is 

 ready for sowing. Sow at the rate of four pounds seed 

 to tie aero, with a seed-drill, being careful to gauge 



the drill not to sow over that quantity. All over that 

 increases the labor of thinning. 



If the weather has the appearance of being dry, it 

 would be well to roll, after sowing, with a hand-roller; 

 but this is seldom required, as the roller upon the drill 

 usually presses the ground sufficiently for the germina- 

 tion of the seed. 



CULTURE. As soon as the onions make their aru 

 pearance above the ground, sufficient to distinguish the 

 rows, they should be carefully dressed through with 

 the scuffle-hoe, to destroy all young weeds that may be 

 starting, and greatly facilitate the first hoeing and 

 weeding, which should be done when the plants are 

 about four inches high. Procrastination here pays 

 heavy interest on the wrong side. Thin to three 



inches in the row diagonally thus : ? . Great 



results are frequently obtained by sowing broadcast at 

 the weeding, when the ground is in a fresh state, 

 three parts wood ashes, two parts fine dry pulverized 

 hen-manure, and one part plaster, at the rate of three 

 bushels to the acre. 



The only sure road to success with this crop is clean 

 cultivation, annual manuring, and careful attention 

 during their growth. With these requisites, onions can 

 be grown on land year after year. The writer of this, 

 last year (1858) raised over five hundred bushels to 

 the acre on land that had had no other crop upon it 

 for over a quarter of a century, and by actual experi- 

 ments finds that it produces better onions, and is 

 easier tilled, in consequence of its being kept free from 

 weeds year after year, and the onions are less liable to 

 run to scallions. In this particular they are an excep- 

 tion to any other crop, as all other crops are benefited 

 by rotation. 



As a market vegetable, the onion is one of the 

 easiest grown ; its plump, firm flesh is not liable to 

 injury from bruises, as many other vegetables ; its 

 keeping qualities and hardiness to frost, render it a 

 vegetable of the first importance for distant markets. 



The onion is hardy in its nature, standing well the 

 late frosts of spring and the early frosts of autumn, 

 and the best results are obtained from the earliest sow- 

 ing ; in fact, this is almost indispensable to obtain a 

 large crop, although there may be certain seasons in 

 which a late crop may do well ; but it is net safe tc 

 defer sowing later than the twentieth of April. The 

 last of March, or the first of April would be preferred, 

 if the ground was in the proper condition. No time 

 should be lost upon the opening of spring until 

 the seed is in. A little snow, or a few frosty nights, 

 will not injure it. With proper attention, and large 

 drafts upon the bank of muck and manure, a few acres 

 of onions will increase the deposits at the Bank of 

 Exchange a large per centage in a few years, as I shall 

 attempt to show in the following calculation, taking low 

 market prices, and a high estimate on labor, and hardly 

 an average per acre, say four hundred bushels ; 



