HOW TO RAISE ONIONS. 



through the rows to support the stalks, otherwise they 

 will be liable to be blown down by high winds, which 

 will injure the seed. The seed should be gathered 

 when fully ripe. It may be separated from the husk 

 by rubbing between a good pair of leather mittens, or, 

 if the quantity is large, it may be threshed by the flail. 

 The dust may now be separated by the fan. The seed 

 should then be put into water sufficient to cover it, 

 when the blasted, if any, will swim. These' should be 

 thrown away ; the remainder may be carefully dried 

 and put up for use. 



Care should be taken in selecting seed, to procure 

 a good article, as this is the rock on which the hopes 

 of the cultivator are frequently shipwrecked. If the 

 seed be shrunk, scallions may be the only product. 

 Old seed is not so likely to grow as new, but if it 

 must be planted, it should be soaked a few hours in 

 water. They should be planted as soon as the ground 

 is sufficiently dry. The middle or latter part of April 

 is in this latitude about the time. A late crop is more 

 dependent on the weather than an early -one. If the 

 planting is delayed till the middle of May, a crop of 

 scallions may be the only product. 



MANURE. The best manure for onions, is night-soil. 

 Twenty loads, of twenty-five bushels each, will do for 

 an acre of ground. If this can not be had, something 

 from the hog-pen, at the rate of thirty loads to the 

 acre, will be found an excellent manure. If the 

 ground is heavy and clayey, a compost may be made 

 of unfermented horse-manure and muck. It may 

 be put together in about equal quantities, and should 

 be placed in alternate layers, first a layer of manure, 

 three or four inches thick, spread on the ground, then 

 a coat of muck, about the same thickness, and proceed 

 in this way, till the whole is finished. The heat aris- 

 ing from the manure will rapidly decompose the muck, 

 while the muck will retain the ammonia arising from 

 the manure, and thus both will be improved. In 

 about six weeks it will be fit for use. Thirty loads 

 to the acre will be a good dressing. 



If the ground is sandy and gravelly, a compost 

 should be made of muck and unleached wood-ashes, 

 at the rate of about half a bushel of ashes for twenty- 

 five bushels of muck ; it should be placed in alternate 

 layers. In two or three months it will be fit for use. 

 If it should be shoveled over once or twice, it will be 

 improved : forty loads will be sufficient for an acre. If 

 none of these can be had, fine well-rotted barnyard 

 manure should be applied at the rate of not less than 

 thirty loads to the acre. The manure should be spread 

 evenly over the ground, and ploughed immediately in, 

 six or eight inches deep. The subsoil plough should 

 be run in every furrow, sixteen or eighteen inches 

 deep. The ground should now be ploughed with a 

 surface-plough, ten or twelve inches deep. If two 

 hundred pounds of the best Peruvian guano be now 

 sowed on and harrowed in, it will give the plants a 



fine start. The ground should be raked with a garden- 

 rake, and made as level as possible. 



PLANTING AND CULTIVATION. The seed may now 

 be planted ; four pounds of seed will be sufficient for 

 an acre. The rows should be twelve inches apart 

 The drill should be so constructed as to plant the seed 

 in hills, four inches apart in the rows, and three or 

 four seeds in a place. This will be found more conve- 

 nient for hoeing than a continuous drill, and the yield 

 will be as good. The seed should be covered about 

 half an inch deep, either by the drill, or by passing 

 the hoe lightly over the rows. 



As soon as the plants can be seen, they should be 

 hoed. This may be done if the ground is free from 

 weeds, by drawing a small hand-cultivator between 

 them ; or, if the ground is weedy, the hoe must be used. 

 The ground should next be stirred around the roots 

 of the plants. A small hoe, with four prongs on one 

 side, and a narrow edge on the other, will be found 

 very convenient. These are made of malleable iron, 

 and are sold at six cents each. If the ground is freo 

 from weeds, four hoeings may be sufficient. If the 

 crop appear sluggish in the early stages of its growth, 

 a liquid manure may be prepared by dissolving one 

 hundred pounds of Peruvian Guano in water, and 

 sprinkling it on with a watering-pot. This will be 

 sufficient for an acre of ground. 



At the second hoeing, carrots may be drilled between 

 the rows, if desired. Drilled in at this time, they will 

 be no injury to the onion crop, and I have frequently 

 known the carrots to pay all the expense of cultivating 

 both crops. If this is not done, it is well to sow the 

 ground with common turnips before the last hoeing, 

 as a good crop may be raised in this way with no other 

 trouble than sowing the seed and harvesting the crop. 



HARVESTING AND STORING. The onions, when ripe, 

 may be turned out of the ground by passing a hoe 

 under the rows. If intended for winter, they should 

 be left on the ground till perfectly dry. If the weather 

 is dry, three or four days will answer. The husks will 

 then peel off, and they will assume a bright-red color, 

 which makes them more salable. They should be 

 gathered and stored without trimming. If any still 

 remain with green tops, they ought to be thrown out, 

 as they may heat. 



A cool dry cellar will be found the best place for 

 keeping onions the cellar of some out-buikling, as a 

 barn or carriage-house. The cellar of a dwelling- 

 house is generally too warm. A little freezing will 

 do them no harm. A bin should be made in some dry 

 corner, with a floor raised a few inches from the ground. 

 Care should be taken to keep them perfectly dry, or 

 they will be very likely to rot. Care should likewise 

 be taken in carting and placing in the cellar, that the 

 onions are not bruised, or they will soon decay. Ground 

 treated as above described, may be planted with oniona 

 every year in succession, and if this treatment is perse- 

 vered in, the crop will improve for several years. 



