ONIONS. 171 



moved to the open ground, although they stand some freezing 

 when hardened oft". They do not transplant so well when soft 

 and succulent as when properly hardened. The land and pre- 

 paration required is the same as for a field crop of onions. 

 The plants should be set two or three inches apart in rows 

 twelve inches apart. Before setting them out the tops should 

 be mostly cut off, and this is especially important if they are weak 

 and spindling, as they are then very sure to turn yellow and 

 die. If the roots are excessively long, they should be shortened 

 to facilitate transplanting. The plants are generally set in 

 small furrows opened with a hand cultivator or with a mar- 

 ker. They should have the lower part of the bulb about 

 an inch deep in the ground. The plants areeasily moved, and if 

 the soil is well firmed they are very sure to live. About 150,000 

 plants are required for an acre, and it is a big job to trans- 

 plant them. For this purpose children can generally .be em- 

 ployed at low wages and they will do the work very well if 

 carefully looked after. The expense of transplanting is 

 variously estimated at from $25 to $50 per acre. Subsequent 

 cultivation is the same as for a field crop of onions. 



Marketing. In a general way the directions for marketing 

 onions apply to any other crop. They should be sold as soon 

 as a fair price can be obtained for them and not stored unless 

 there is a good chance of a rise. In some localities there is a 

 large demand for onions for bunching purposes before the 

 bulbs are formed. In these places it will sometimes pay to 

 })ull and sell the crop before the tops have died down, but 

 generally it should be allowed to ripen. The foreign kinds, 

 such as can only be raised here by the transplanting method. 

 are generally highest in price in early autumn and should 

 then be sold. The tops should always be removed before the 

 bulbs are marketed, and all small bulbs should be picked out 

 and sold separately for pickling purposes. Most markets pre- 

 fer onions of medium size, globular rather than flat in 

 shape, and yellow or white in color rather than red. Very 

 large onions of the common type are not so salable as those 

 of medium size; but of the foreign kinds the larger the better, 

 and good specimens sometimes weigh as much as two pounds. 



Onions for the home garden should be raised partly from seed 

 and partly from sets or transplanting. The small onions picked 



