56 ONIONS FOR PROFIT. 



This is easy and quick work. Any strong, half-grown boy 

 can go over an acre in a day in this way, and we can 

 therefore well afford to thus stir the soil between the rows 

 pretty frequently. 



In fact, this is necessary. We have frequent rains thus 

 early in the season which pack the soil and result in the 

 formation of a crust over it. This must be broken as often 

 as it forms, in order to admit air to the roots of the plants, 

 and also to form a sort of soil mulch over the surface, 

 which is very serviceable in preserving soil moisture should 

 a dry spell follow. The rule is, therefore, to start the 

 wheel hoe just as soon after a rain as the surface of the 

 ground is dry enough to be easily pulverized. Besides this, 

 repeat the operation as often as possible in dry spells. I do 

 not believe that you can overdo the matter. 



Hand Weeding. 



Next comes hand weeding. This usually involves the 

 greatest expense in the production of an onion crop, and 

 is the chief trouble we meet in the undertaking. The new 

 method, however, requires a great deal less of this expen- 

 sive and tedious labor on hands and knees. This is an 

 advantage that offsets more than fully the labor required in 

 transplanting. 



Half-grown boys are well suited to do the work of hand 

 weeding, if you can keep them under strict surveillance 

 and steadily at work. Each one is provided with some 

 sort of weeding implement, and works on hands and knees 

 while straddling his row. Teach them to keep their feet 

 nicely between the rows. 



In loose, mucky, or sandy soil the work can be done 

 entirely with the fingers, but I should prefer a Lang hand- 

 weeder even then. There are quite a number of tools that 

 may be used for this purpose. I show some of them in Fig. 



