EXPERIENCE OF PRACTICAL GROWERS. 



tied in bunches, and hung up in an open shed, until 

 thoroughly seasoned ; or if the crop is large, they may 

 be spread thin in an open left, until seasoned, when 

 they may be barrelled up and sent to market. 



The above mode of cultivation applies to sets as 

 well as to the grown onion?. The sets should be 

 taken up and treated in the same manner as the large 

 onions. If they are not planted in the fall, they 

 should be planted in the spring as early as the ground 

 will bear working, observing the same directions as in 

 fall planting ; omitting the covering of them. In the 

 northern and middle parts of the United States, sets, 

 and other onions designed for planting, should be kept 

 in a warm and dry cellar, boxed up and mixed with 



dry dirt that is, when they are not planted in the 

 fall. 



RED ONIONS are not so prolific, are very strong and 

 highly scented, but are hardy, <md keep well through 

 the winter. The sets grow on the top v and have to be 

 well propped up before they ripen, or they will fall 

 down and rot in wet weather. The same mode of 

 cultivation is to be observed with these, as laid down 

 for the potato onion. 



SHALLOTS are a small variety, which grow in large 

 bunches. The roots resemble garlic, but are much 

 larger. They have nearly gone out of use in this 

 region. Their cultivation is about the same as already 

 laid down for the other varieties. 



No. XIV. 



BY R. I, PLYMOUTH CO., MASS. 



WITH the onion-grower, soil and position are the first 

 and by no means the least important. You can make 

 them grow on almost any soil under favorable circum- 

 stances, but to cultivate successfully, which is the 

 great object, it is necessary that the soil should partake 

 largely of vegetable deposit, be mellow, free from small 

 stones, and lie as near level as you can have it, so as 

 to prevent copious showers from washing out the seed 

 which I have known occur on slightly-inclined 

 grades. 



When the spot has been selected, put in your plough 

 a foot to sixteen inches deep, in the fall, giving the 

 frost an opportunity to operate for you in pulverizing 

 or fining up your soil, which is very necessary, as I 

 have found in the course of many years' experience. 

 As soon as the frost is out in the spring, don't lose a 

 s'ngle day after the soil is sufficiently dry to work 

 put in the plough not over four or five inches deep, 

 haul on your dressing, and harrow in until it is fully 

 mixed with the soil. 



I will here insert a bit of my experience. At the 

 outset of my onion-cultivation, I had a man in my 

 employ whose father owned the farm previous to my 

 coming into possession. He was positive I could not 

 raise onions on that place, as all his ancestors had 

 failed, after repeated trials in most favored localities, 

 and utmost care throughout. Deciding to try for 

 myself, I directed him to plough a garden, part of it for 

 onions, only a few inches deep. On examining the 

 piece, and inquiring of him, I found the whole 

 ploughed as deep as the plough would run, giving as 

 reason that it could be spaded up easier. I had two 

 tons of stones loaded upon a wide-felloed cart, and 

 driven over the piece until it was thoroughly packed 

 down, put on the dressing, and worked it in with a 



horse-cultivator, planted eleven by eleven inches apart, 

 kept well stirred through the season, and for my labor 

 had forty-seven bushels and three pecks of onions, from 

 seven and a half rods of ground, or at the rate of a thou- 

 sand bushels per acre. If you plough or work your soil 

 deep, the roots will consequently strike deep, and hold 

 on so as to afford you a bountiful crop of bull-necks, or 

 scallions, as my boys call them. I think this the 

 cause of the failure of most persons who are not suc- 

 cessful. I have found in cases of mildew that have 

 come under my observation, that those portions of the 

 field were the most affected where the soil was the 

 most mellow. 



The quality of dressing used is quite important, and 

 the experience of those who have been in the business 

 is of some value. For the region round Naragansett 

 Bay, K. I. r the cultivators of onions prefer a compost 

 of strong hog-pen manure to any other. It should be 

 well pulverized in the field, where it is necessary to 

 have it incorporated with the soil in as fine a state as 

 possible, which will save much after-labor. Do the 

 best you can, you will find enough refuse stuff to rake 

 off. You need not fear doing this part of the job too 

 well. Some apply good fine sea-weed in the fall, and 

 plough in; others use fish, but these, as a .general 

 thing, are not obtainable, however valuable. If your 

 soil is rich, a yearly application of fifteen cords of hog- 

 pen manure per acre will keep your piece producing 

 indefinitely, as onions, unlike most other crops, im- 

 prove or increase in product by replanting the same 

 spot continuous years. There seems to be something 

 valuable in the tops, leaves, roots, etc., left after a crop 

 is taken off, that is of service to the growth of a suc- 

 ceeding one. 



A few years since, I used four hundred pounds o/ 



