CHAPTER VIII. 



The Onion. 



THE cultivation of this popular vegetable differs consider- 

 ably in the various sections of the country, and I will 

 only undertake to describe the methods best adapted to 

 the gulf coast country, extending around to Florida. As for 

 everything else, it is well to apply manure freely for onions, 

 and especially the elements of phosphoric acid and potash, 

 for it is a crop that requires a good deal of painstaking labor, 

 and it will not do to run the risk of failure. T*ens of thou- 

 sands of bushels are annually grown around New Orleans, where 

 they mature, as they do here, at the best time to strike a good 

 northern market in spring. The variety used there almost 

 exclusively is the Creole, which has been grown time out of 

 mind, and has proved the best there as well as here. Both the 

 Red and White Bermuda are good, but do not keep or ship 

 near as well as the Creole. The Prize Taker has also given 

 very fine onions this season, and is well worthy of further trial. 

 The seeds are best sown in this section from the ist of 

 October to the I5th of November, in well manured beds, 

 which should be made up some time ahead, and raked over 

 several times after showers, to kill the weed seeds. If much 

 ground is to be planted, it is best to prepare a large bed. 

 The seeds should be sown rather shallow, and covered by 

 hand with soil, which, after being watered well, must be 

 shaded with moss from the woods or clean old hay, free from 

 weed seeds. In four or five days they will come up, when the 

 covering must be removed at once. Nothing more is neces- 

 sary, except to keep clean until the plants are large enough 

 to be set out. The ground, as well as the seed-bed, should 

 have been prepared a month or so ahead, for it happens oc- 

 casionally that heavy rains occur in the fall, and it is impos- 

 sible to prepare the land. This, in fact, applies to all fall and 



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