ONIONS 187 



harrowing would be all that is necessary. 

 With this harrowing, leveling of the land 

 would be essential as well. 



A rotation where onions follow celery is 

 very good indeed. In this way, the onion 

 crop is practically free of weeds, owing to 

 the fact that celery preceding a crop of 

 onions can be maintained weed-free. Fol- 

 lowing the plowing, the harrow would be 

 necessary to fine the soil somewhat. The 

 next step in the operation would be with the 

 planker, used in such a way that the land is 

 left both level and somewhat pressed down. 

 If correctly used, the soil is in very fine con- 

 dition for seed sowing. 



Planting. The amount of seed necessary 

 to plant an acre varies somewhat. How- 

 ever, about six pounds seems to be the 

 amount necessary. This amount will seem 

 somewhat large to most growers of onions, 

 but the crop on the muck soil varies Con- 

 siderably from the upland crop in the fact 

 that the onions in the row are sometimes 2 

 to 5 wide, and these onions are not thinned. 



The seed may be distributed by various 

 types of machines. One-row seeding 

 machines are often used. With these 

 machines, the rows are opened, the seed 



