III. 



THE PREPARATIONS. 

 SELECTION AND ANTECEDENTS OF SOIL. 



SANDY LOAM. — CLAY. — MUCK. — RIVER BOTTOM. — IDEAL ONION SOIL. 

 — PRELIMINARY TREATMENT OF SOIL. — ROTATION. 



While it is true that onions can be grown on any soil, 

 from sand to clay, and on muck besides, if otherwise prop- 

 erly managed and prepared, yet a judicious selection, which 

 aims to secure a combination of the most favorable condi- 

 tions, has as much influence as any other thing upon the 

 question of profit or loss. I know many large grain farms 

 on which you would not find a single half-acre of land suit- 

 able to be used for onion growing at short notice. 



A Review of Soils. 



Soil that is stony or gravelly has to be rejected, because 

 of the difficulty of economical cultivation by means of 

 labor-saving devices. Weed seeds also usually abound 

 there. 



Then there are pieces of nice, clean loam, inclining to 

 sandy. They would be just the thing, had not a half cen- 

 tury's persistent cropping without an adequate return of the 

 plant-foods taken off year after year almost ruined the orig- 

 inally fine fields, and rendered them unfit for the purposes 

 of onion growing, at least for the present. A satisfactory 

 crop cannot be expected on poor land the first season, no 

 matter how lavish the grower might be with his manure 

 applications. 



On one farm I noticed a corner lot near the barn, the 

 soil being a fine sandy loam, quite rich from having received 



16 



