Food for It is only by thoughtful and painstaking study of the 



^^^"^^ needs of his different crops that the farmer is enabled to feed 

 ^* them so as to obtain maximum crops at the lowest cost per 

 acre or per ton of product. 



In a general way it may prove of interest to the reader 

 to reflect on the following : 



If it cost $45.00 per acre for rent, ploughing, harrowing, 

 seeding, weeding and cultivating to produce a crop of onions 

 ready to harvest^ then 



The crop of 225 bushels per acre costs 20 cts. per bushel. 

 The crop of 450 bushels per acre costs 10 cts. per bushel. 

 The crop of 900 bushels per acre costs 5 cts. per bushel. 



The latter yield is not at all unusual when the crop is 

 properly fed with Nitrate of Soda and supplementary 

 chemical fertilizers. 



In the first place, the onion, contrary to the general be- 

 lief, does not require any special kind of soil, such as muck, 

 black sand, etc., but will do almost equally as well on any 

 good corn or potato soil, provided it is not so stony as to 

 interfere with the cultivation of the crop when young, and 

 is capable of being worked into fine tilth on the surface so 

 as to satisfactorily cover the seed in order that they may 

 germinate evenly and quickly. 



Even though a field is somewhat stony, if otherwise 

 suitable, it will pay to rake the stones into the dead fur- 

 rows (which should not be more than twenty feet apart) 

 with a hand rake, as the stones would make it impossible 

 to do good work with the weeder and wheel hoe when culti- 

 vating the crop. 



. J. In selecting your field for onions it is, of 

 ecessity o course, advisable to choose one that is likely 



Moisture m ^^ ^^ affected as little as possible in the 



event of a severe drought, and it is for this 

 reason that onions, cabbage and those crops that especially 

 require large quantities of moisture during their growth are 

 usually grown upon bottom lands. In fact, it is next to 

 impossible to raise a money crop of any kind unless we can 

 have a fairly good supply of moisture at the right time, 

 which is when the plant is making its strongest growth ; 

 therefore it is important that we treat our soilj from the 

 start with that object in view, viz., to conserve an adequate 



