THE PREPARATIONS. ly 



'^ It was cut early, and the aftermath, another heavy growth, 

 left on the ground to rot, although the neighbors laughed 

 at me for letting so much good hay go to waste. A fair 

 dressing of half-rotted stable manure was put on in autumn, 

 and the field plowed in early spring. It would have done 

 your eyes good to see the crop of potatoes I took off that 

 piece that season — more than 350 bushels to the acre, I 

 guess — and the nicest and smoothest potatoes I ever laid 

 my eyes on ! In fall or winter following the land received 

 another light dressing of half-decayed sheep manure, and 

 in spring it was planted to beets and carrots. Well, such a 

 crop as that was again! The neighbors haven't -had a 

 word to say for a year or two about my ' foolishness in let- 

 ting so much good hay go to waste.' It has tickled me, 

 too, to see some of them try the same method of raising 

 potatoes, and apparently with good success. Now, I assure 

 you, there have not many weeds been given a chance to 

 ripen and scatter seed on this lot for several years. ' ' 



This is indeed a most excellent preliminary treatment of 

 a piece of land to be used for onion growing. I do not 

 know how it could be improved upon. That the rotation 

 may be varied more or less, should go without saying; but 

 I like to have clover as one of the fore-crops. It cleans 

 the field and supplies the soil with the decaying vegetable 

 matter which is of such great importance. Following it, 

 you may grow crops, for a year or two, which require high 

 manuring and high cultivation, such as carrots, beets, 

 radishes, celery, spinach, or other garden vegetables. A 

 rotation of this kind fits the land nicely for onion growing. 



Onions in Succession. 

 If we believe orthodox teachings, onions can be grown 

 successfully on land where onions have been grown for 

 many years in succession. Our old onion growers always 



