66 THE SEED-GROWER. 



ble. After a good harrowing, the soil is made even 

 with a drag. 



Seed for the production of onion sets is generally 

 raised by the onion-set growers themselves, by planting 

 in the fall for that purpose bulbs above the size of a 

 walnut, which were produced by them in a previous 

 crop of sets. See preceding chapter on onion seed. 



Thirty-five to forty-five pounds of seed are usually 

 sown to the acre, in rows three and a half inches or five 

 inches wide, according to drill used, five inches' space 

 being left between rows for cultivation with a wheel 

 hoe. The crop must be cultivated and kept free from 

 weeds; it generally being gone over five or six times up 

 to about 20th of June, when cultivation is discontinued, 

 otherwise sets will be injured. Harvest takes place, 

 according to latitude, from July 4th to August 1st. 



Harvesting. When the sets show signs of ripening, 

 indicated by the tops getting soft, they are lifted by a 

 wheel-hoe fitted with a lifter, which is a piece of steel 

 six and a half to seven inches wide, made sharp at the 

 bottom and bolted on. After a number of rows have 

 been lifted, the bulbs and tops intact are pulled and laid 

 in small piles or windrows, five to six rows being made 

 into one pile at a time. The position in the windrow is 

 upright, bulbs touching the ground, tops up; the bulbs 

 being thereby protected from sunburn. In this man- 

 ner, in windrows, bulbs are left to mature and cure, ex- 

 posed to the sun or rain, for two or three weeks after 

 pulling. 



In California it is the fashion, immediately after sets 

 are lifted, while tops are somewhat green yet, to stack 

 the tops and bulbs, packed closely, in upright position 

 (as in windrows), in shallow boxes, which are then 

 placed under shelter in a shed or a barn. In this manner, 



