132 MAEKET GARDENING. 



worth twenty-thousand dollars ; but right here the 

 reader must remember that at least sixty per cent, of his 

 expenses came back in the shape of the earnings of him- 

 self and family. 



STOKING AND KEEPING ONIONS, 



Half the secret of keeping onions well, is in housing 

 them in a perfectly dry, sound condition. If they are 

 to be disposed of before cold weather, they can be kept 

 in any dry place where they can have plenty of air, the 

 best place being on a loose floor, where the air can pass 

 up through them. 



Onions, to be preserved through winter, should be 

 kept at a low temperature ; if kept from actual freezing 

 there is no danger of the temperature being too low ; they 

 should be kept dry, but if, by any chance, they get 

 frozen, they should not be handled, merely covered and 

 kept in the dark till the frost gradually leaves them. 

 It is not the freezing which does the mischief, but mov- 

 ing them when frozen, and repeated thawing and with- 

 drawing of frost. Wherever the essential conditions 

 prevail of uniform low dry temperature, absence of light, 

 and not too severe frost, they may be safely stored for 

 winter. Above all things, moisture and heating in balk 

 should be guarded against. If these conditions are to 

 be obtained in a cellar or a room above ground it may be 

 used for winter storing. To avoid gathering moisture 

 and heating, the bulbs should not be over two feet deep, 

 better less. If too warm they grow and rot. 



If they are to be kept through the winter, store 

 them in a building with tight floors, under which the 

 frost cannot get. On such a floor place scantling, upon 

 which lay narrow boards, half an inch apart. Upon 

 this drying floor build up a false partition one foot within 

 the outside walls. Arranged in this way, they have a 

 free circulation of air all around and under them. 



