22 



HOW TO EAISE ONIONS 



ting vie weeds grow after the onions have attained some 

 size. If one intends to raise them year after year on 

 the same piece of ground, (and they will grow as well 

 by heavy manuring as they did the first year,) he must 

 not let a single weed go to seed. 



If the right kind of seed and plenty of manure are 

 used, and the ground cultivated as it ought to be, we 

 may expect from five to eight hundred bushels to the 

 acre. If the ground is free from weeds as it should be, 

 when the crop is gathered in, so much the better for 

 the next year's crop. "When most of the onions get 

 ripe, I let them dry one or two days, and when dry 

 rake them in windrows, and when little damp, either 

 at night or morning, pile them up in small heaps, 

 and let them stand till they have no moisture in the 

 top. When it comes a drying day, spread them out, 

 and when perfectly dry, cart them in. They can be 

 kept from two to six feet thick if they are well cured, 

 and put where the air can circulate around them, till 

 very cold weather, and then they must be kept from 

 being frozen too much. 



It seemed to me the hardest work that I had ever 

 done, to weed the first piece I planted, and it cost more 



to cultivate my first two rods of ground, than it has ao 

 acre since, owing to the ground being full of foul seeu. 

 Onions are the most profitable crop that a farmer 

 can raise, and the quantity has been increased from 

 three hundred to nine hundred bushels per acre, and I 

 think one thousand bushels or more can be grown by 

 proper cultivation. Red onions are now wholesaling 

 at three dollars per barrel, and white ones at four dol 

 lars per barrel. One year I sold my onions at one dol- 

 lar a bushel, and sent them to market in the fall be- 

 fore housing. I have sold red onions as high as five 

 dollars a barrel, and white ones at six dollars. There 

 has been no time within twelve years, but that onions 

 would bring two dollars a barrel in the course of the 

 year. There is one thing that farmers have to com- 

 plain of, and that is, it costs us so much before the 

 onions get into the consumers' hands. It costs us 

 about twenty cents a barrel to send them to New- York, 

 and they are sold to wholesale dealers, who make 

 from twenty-five to fifty cents a barrel, and so it cosls 

 us from sixty cents to one dollar per barrel before they 

 get into the consumers' hands. 



No. XIII. 



BY LOUIS STRADER, GREEN CO., KY. 



POTATO ONIONS are the only variety much cultivat- 

 ed in the G-reen river country. They are a very pro- 

 lific, mild, and well-flavored vegetable. The sets grow 

 from the roots, numbering from four to fifteen from each 

 onion, and are much larger than the sets from the red 

 onions; they are not quite so hardy, however. 



Select the largest and best-shaped sets to raise from. 

 They attain their full size the first year after planting. 

 To raise the seta, select large, sound, and well-formed 

 onions. 



PLANTING, CULTIVATION, ETC. I much prefer plant- 

 ing in the fall ; ihey come mach earlier, the yield is 

 larger, and they are safer in the ground after planting 

 than elsewhere through the winter. Plant about the 

 middle of October for this latitude, earlier further 

 north, and later as you go south. Select a situation 

 gently sloping to the south, a rich, dry, loamy soil, 

 nighly manured with well-rotted stable-manure. Plough 

 or spade up the land some nine inches deep, when the 

 ground is in good working condition. Avoid working 

 the land when too wet, as it causes it to bake, which 

 is a great drawback to the growth of onions. Pulver- 

 ize the soil thoroughly with a hand-rake, by drawing 

 it back and forth until all the clods are broken fine. 

 Cut two sticks 18 inches long, and tie one to each end 

 of a line, which should be as long as the piece of 

 ground intended for planting, and with it mark off the 



ground in rows 18 inches asunder, using the sticks at 

 each end of the line as a measure, sticking them down 

 to hold the line well stretched. Scrape out the drills 

 by the side of the rope deep enough to hold the onions, 

 so that the top may be even with the surface of the 

 ground. Then place the large onions in the drills nine 

 inches from each other, and the sets six inches from 

 centre to centre, and fill up the drill with well-rotted 

 stable-manure. Next, draw up the fine earth so as to 

 make the drill in a ridge, in order to protect the onions 

 from too much freezing. This ridge should be scraped 

 off in the spring, when they begin to grow. 



If the fall should be favorable, they will soon come 

 up ; they should be covered up before hard weather 

 sets in, with corn-stalks, hay, or something of the sort, 

 to protect them during winrer. 



They should be uncovered in the spring after the 

 ground ceases to freeze. After this, they should be 

 well worked with a hoe once a week, until they are 

 fully grown, taking care not to disturb the roots too 

 much. About this time the earth should be scraped 

 from them, to uncover the top of the onions, that they 

 may be exposed to the sun, which will ripen them. 

 The earth should not be scraped from them until somo 

 of the tops begin to fall over on the ground. Let 

 them remain in this condition until the tops are dead 

 and nearly dry. They should then be pulled up, and 



