66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



the cutaway harrow. The ground is then harrowed over with 

 the acme and plank-drag until it is in the best condition. The 

 finishing touches are then put on with the roller and meeker 

 smoothing harrow. Time spent in preparing land for onions, 

 or any other crop, is not wasted. Some people have an idea that 

 if land is plowed and harrowed over it is fit to plant. 



If the ground is very dry at the time of sowing we roll down 

 the rows after seeding with a heavy 4-inch iron wheel, rigged up 

 something like a wheelbarrow, in order to firm the soil over the 

 seed. This takes the place of "the use of the feet in sowing," 

 as advocated by Peter Henderson a generation ago. About 5 

 pounds of seed is sown per acre, depending upon the percentage 

 of germination. We have been raising the Southport Yellow 

 Globe and the Ohio Yellow Globe. They are both good 

 varieties. We have tried two makes of weeders, ■ — • the Brun- 

 ner we sent back over the Border; the Golden we still 

 have. But as long as we can get Polish women at $1,25 and 

 children at 60 cents per day, I believe we will stick to the hand 

 work. 



For early onions we use sets, the so-called "new method," 

 which consists of using plants started in a hotbed, having 

 proved unsatisfactory. We find it important to grow our own 

 sets, as the commercial ones are very often raised from inferior 

 seed. Yellow Strasburg, a small flat onion, is generally used by 

 the growers in production of sets, as a flat onion always makes 

 a better shaped set, whereas the globe-shaped onion will pro- 

 duce one that is bottle shaped. As appearance is not what we 

 are after we use the same variety and the same grade of seed as 

 in the production of large onions, 



W^e also grow considerable Prizetaker sets. ' This variety 

 matures about two weeks later than the Southport Yellow 

 Globe, but will yield a much larger crop. We have found the 

 Prizetaker sets just as easy to grow and as good a keeper as the 

 ordinary variety of onions. About 50 pounds of seed per acre 

 is used. This is sown as early in the spring as possible, on well- 

 enriched sandy soil. When the onions begin to mature they are 

 pulled and laid on the ground for a few days to dry. They are 

 afterward picked up, part of the top twisted off, and stored in 

 shallow, slat-bottomed crates. In planting the sets we often 



