102 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



potato can yet be grown in Worcester North in full vigor and 

 usefulness. The skinning process, so often alluded to, by 

 taking from the soil all that is possible to take, and returning 

 nothing to it again, is a ruinous operation to the larm as well 

 as to the owner. 



ONIONS. 



As a general rule, any soil well adapted to the growth of 

 Indian corn is well suited to the onion. Lands that slope in 

 any direction should never be selected, as great injury is 

 liable to be done in spring-time, by washing the seed or young 

 roots from their bed ; therefore, fields nearly level should be 

 chosen ; lands abounding with coarse gravel are always to be 

 avoided; reclaimed meadow, with a light coating of sand, 

 frequently gives quite as good return in quantity as any soil 

 that can be chosen, although the quality is sometimes inferior; 

 lands also abounding with stone are always troublesome. 

 It has again and again been noticed, that in the preparation 

 of the field each year, it apparently requires about as much 

 labor to remove the stone as to perform the rest of the work. 

 Fields overrun with weeds and troublesome grasses, should not 

 be taken for onions, as there is no root-crop that requires so 

 tender care in weeding ; hence, if weeds have already deposited 

 their seeds from careless or inditferent cultivation, it is far 

 better to postpone the operation for another season, or until 

 the seeds shall have become annihilated ; neither will soil 

 so Avet as that it cannot be worked in early spring, give a 

 good return of this crop. 



The next important work is by the use of the plough ; the 

 depth should be varied according to circumstances ; usually, 

 however, quite shallow ; say about four inches, but the finer, the 

 better. The quantity of manure used and ploughed in, should 

 be from nine to ten cords or even more per acre, and not only 

 made fine and free from lumps, but well decomposed ; after 

 which a coat of wood-ashes or some other fertilizer should be 

 spread upon the surface and well mixed with the soil. In about 

 three weeks after planting, the surface should be moved, and, 

 continued to be moved once in eight or ten days, and, during 

 the season, another light dressing of some fertilizer applied 

 and worked into the soil, and the rains and dews b}^ this 

 treatment will much facilitate the growth of the crop. There- 



