THE ONION. 47 



winter crops where land is at all level, and I will again re- 

 peat, that it is best, by far, to plant all crops, at this season 

 especially, on good, high beds and ridges. Never risk any- 

 thing flat, for growth has to be made during the short, cool 

 winter days, and the plants require all the heat they can get. 



Onion beds here are generally made about four feet wide, 

 and the rows across the beds about one foot apart, as this is 

 most convenient for setting from each side. The plants are 

 set when about the size of a quill, and should have half the 

 tops sheared off before digging, and all the roots cut back to 

 one-half inch or less. A crop thus treated, especially if the 

 sets are rather large, will do far better than when planted 

 with long roots. About four inches apart in the rows is a 

 good distance. 



By this method of onion growing, a world of work in 

 weeding and thinning is saved, for two acres can be set and 

 worked, where one could be grown from seed and thinned. 

 Just who originated this method of growing onions in the 

 Gulf States, nobody can now remember, as it has been the 

 common, in fact the only, plan since long before the war. 

 In January, 1863, I remember well seeing five acres thus 

 planted in this county, at Lamarque, which made an immense 

 crop, for which, rumor had it, the owner received $5,000, as 

 there were no onions in this country at that time. And yet, 

 in the face of this well-known fact in the South, an author of 

 New York a few years ago came out with his new discovery 

 in onion growing, and has published a pamphlet, with these 

 directions as new, that have been practiced here for thirty 

 years to my certain knowledge ! 



As to cultivation of the onion, as long as the ground is 

 clean, the less the better in winter. The onion makes roots 

 close to the top of the ground as it grows larger, and deep 

 working is very injurious. As noted elsewhere, a clean, 

 smooth surface in winter absorbs far more heat than one that 

 is cultivated, and heat is the all-important thing. I saw 

 to-day, the 24th of February, while on a visit to Hitch- 

 cock, a most beautiful and vigorous field of onions, that have 

 never had a moment's work since shortly after they were 



