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the raking or treading of a careless hand. When the crop is 

 thoroughly dried, the onions feeling hard to the handling, it 

 will be ready for topping for market. They are carefully 

 collected in baskets, rejecting all stones, scallions and rotten 

 onions, and taken in wagon loads to the barn, when the tops 

 are cut off clean to the onion with a sharp knife, or if the 

 necks are small and quite dry they may be pulled off by the 

 thumb and finger. This is usually done by boys or females 

 from two to four cents a bushel. While collecting, look 

 sharply on the bottom of the onions to detect rotten ones. 

 Some growers prefer to leave such of the crop as they design 

 to keep for a late market untopped. If it is intended to 

 market the crop immediately, the onions may be piled to a 

 depth of three or four feet ; otherwise they should not be 

 over two feet in depth. Leave the barn doors and windows 

 all open every pleasant day. As the crop is topped, those of 

 the size of a hazel-nut and smaller are classed as pickle 

 onions, these being marketed principally for that purpose, and 

 usually bringing about half the price of the full grown ones. 



TRACING, OR ROPING ONIONS. 



When the crop has ripened down but poorly, the greener 

 onions are at times traced. This is done by cutting off the 

 neck within about two inches of the bulb, and binding it to a 

 handful of straw ; beginning at the butt end of the straw, lay 

 the neck against the straw, give two or three firm turns with 

 the twine (net or wrapping twine), add another onion, and 

 thus proceed till the straw is covered, the larger onions being 

 tied to the bottom and gradually decreasing in size to the top 

 Onions so slowly ripened that they would soon spoil if stored 

 in a mass, will keep well when traced, and oftentimes bring 

 a greater profit than the best of the crop. Rareripes, 



