ONIONS. 16£ 



foot of hay or straw on the approach of hard frost and left 

 until wanted for planting in the spring. In other words, they 

 should be kept frozen all winter. Treated in this way, the sets 

 will require to be cleaned in the spring, which is done by rub- 

 bing them in the hands to loosen the dirt and tops and then 

 running them through a fanning mill. After this they are run 

 over a screen with a three-fourths inch mesh and only those 

 that go through it are saved for sets. This work of cleaning 



Fig. 86.— At the left: onion plants as dug. On the right: onion plants trim- 

 med and ready for transplanting. 



may be done in autumn before storing and the sets mixed with 

 with chaff to aid in keeping them over winter. 



Transplanting onions. Within a few years market gardeners 

 have adopted a plan of raising onions by sowing tie seed in 

 March in a hotbed and then transplanting the seedlings to the 

 open ground as soon as it is nicely settled. This system has 

 the merit of doing away with the first few weedings in the open 

 ground, reduces the expense of seed to a minimum and 

 makes it possible to raise some of the more delicate foreign 

 varieties of onions, which command the highest price in the 

 market. It is very doubtful if the common field onions can be 



