IS 



HOW TO RAISE ONIONS. 



NO. X. 



BY W. R. BUNNELL, BRIDGEPORT, FAIRFIELD CO., CT 



KINDS. The thick or globular deep-red onion, 

 known as the Wethersfield Large Red, is the kind 

 generally grown in Fairfield county, Ct. It grows to 

 a good size when thinly sown on good ground, yields 

 well, is of a beautiful color and shape, tender in cooking, 

 keeps well, and is very salable in New-York market, 

 for use or shipping. Also a yellow onion, (generally 

 called and sold for white,) of nearly the same shape 

 and qualities as the red, supposed to be the Danvers, 

 which sells in the same market for one to two shillings 

 a barrel more than the Reds, but does not generally 

 yield so well. 



SEED. All seed should be raised from good-shaped 

 if not large bulbs, to avoid scallions, (thick-necks or 

 green onions;) should be water-cleaned and kept very 

 dry, and though generally preferred only one year old, 

 will succeed nearly as well after the second, or even 

 third year, if it has been kept in a dry place, but seed 

 more than one year old sells at only half-price. Bought 

 seed should always be put into water and stirred for a 

 short time, and that which does not sink in fifteen 

 minutes, may be considered worthless or unreliable. 



SOIL. Any good garden soil, from a clay-loam to 

 even quite a gravelly loam, say of one half mixture, is 

 suitable. In a dry season the first will yield best, and 

 .n a wet one the last a medium may be best. 



EXPOSURE. The best is a dry level, or a slight in- 

 clination to any point of the compass but the north. 

 It should never incline over four inches to the rod, to 

 prevent the rains from washing away the soil with the 

 seeds or young plants. An inclination of one to two 

 feet to the rod is sometimes seen. The plants on side- 

 hills, after they get well rooted, do not suffer from the 

 washing away of the soil, but those buried by the 

 washed soil are injured ; therefore if possible avoid 

 steep side-hills and hollows, especially the latter, 

 where water can stand after rains, which is most inju- 

 rious of all. 



MANURE. No fresh yard-manure should be used, as 

 it is apt to be full of seeds, which will greatly increase 

 the labor of tending, and the straw will be in the way 

 of ploughing, raking, and hoeing. Night-soil or hog- 

 manure is preferred. If barnyard manure is used, it 

 should be thrown into heaps before the first of March, 

 to kill the seeds and ripen for use by heating, or it may 

 be carried out to the field and each load be heaped by 

 itself, and the earth around thrown upon them as soon 

 as it thaws, to the depth of three or more inches, to 

 keep off the cold winds, and preserve their moisture, 

 and raise the heat high enough to vegetate the seeds. 

 Turning, or well shaking up, putting the outside to the 

 middle a week or two before using, will still further im- 

 orovo it. As to the quantity, the crop will be in pro- 



portion to that and the quality ; it should bp from forty 

 to sixty or more ox-cart loads to the acre, and twelve 

 to fifty bushels of leached ashes harrowed or raked in, 

 or sowed on the rows after weeding. 



PLOUGHING. So soon as the ground is dry, have the 

 manure on the field. First hoe it over, to cut up all 

 grass, weeds, and roots, and rake them off; for if 

 ploughed under, they will be a great plague. Then if 

 the heaps of manure were covered with earth, hoe 

 it off as they are wanted, and return it to the hollows 

 to level the ground, and spread it just fast enough to 

 feed the plough, breaking it fine ; then rake or scrape 

 it with a dung-fork, into the furrow, to be covered in 

 the next bout. Once ploughing is sufficient, if well 

 done. A second would throw out the manure. Im- 

 mediately after ploughing, if your quantity of manure 

 was not sufficient, strew any special manures, as pou- 

 drette, guano, superphosphate, bone-dust probably 

 the best of all, etc., to make up the deficiency. If the 

 ground is lumpy, harrow lengthwise first, and finish off 

 by going over with the back of the harrow down, or 

 with a brush harrow, (see Agriculturist, 1858, page 

 108.) Then proceed to rake off all the stones and 

 rubbish, and to even the surface. If the soil is mellow 

 after ploughing, harrowing may be omitted. Many 

 simply scatter short fresh manure, plough once, and 

 rake down, drill and sow ; but it is a miserable way, 

 making extra work in weeding, and producing a light- 

 er crop. 



SOWING. This is cheapest and quickest done with 

 a machine, called an onion-sower, which sows two 

 rows at once, one foot apart, and costs about $5, 

 and is to be found at the agricultural stores. It must 

 be regulated on a floor or board, to sow the seed to 

 average to f of an inch apart, which will be about 4 

 Ibs. to the acre 3- to 4 is the usual quantity for a 

 crop which is not to be thinned out. The machine 

 does not cover the seed. This is done by drawing the 

 back of a hay-rake lengthwise over one or two rows 

 at a time. Any special manures may be scattered 

 with great advantage upon the seed in the drills before 

 covering. Make the drills about of an inch deep 

 when open. But many prefer the old way of sowing 

 by hand, and make a drill-rake with a head three feet 

 four inches long, of three or four inches scantling, with 

 three teeth fifteen inches long, pointed, and one foot 

 apart, with a short curved handle four to five feet long 

 Starting with a line for a guide, (which must also be 

 used with the machine,) and afterwards following the 

 last drill with one tooth, and sow by hand, from a 

 small cup, distributing the seed with the thumb and 

 fingers at the same distances as stated for the machine, 

 and much straighter and more evenly, but it is a tedioua 



