onion crop is sown just as soon as the land is dry enough to 

 work in the spring, and so this fall work is essential. In the 

 spring every horse is at a premium, and a team with driver has 

 received $7.50 a day at this time. If, however, lime has not 

 been applied in the fall and is to be applied, then it is the first 

 job in the spring and should be followed by the wheel or cut- 

 away harrow, and right here is a good time to say that extra 

 team labor expended at this time will be time and money 

 saved later in hand hoeing and weeding. Team work is far 

 cheaper than hand work, and this is true of any crop: a 

 deep-plowed, well-fitted soil is an asset all the season through, 

 especially in case of drought. 



The plow that has become the most popular is the sulky, 

 because the dead furrow is obviated, which is a great advantage 

 in the onion field. The harrows used are mostly the wheel or 

 cutaway, the Acme and the Meeker smoothing harrow. After 

 the field is thoroughly wheel-harrowed the fertilizer is applied 

 with a fertilizer distributor, a machine universally used. This 

 machine is not only a labor-saver, but allows fertilizer to be 

 applied on a windy day, when hand work would be out of the 

 question. 



Fertilizer: Kind and Amount. 



The onion field has to be enriched by the use of commercial 

 fertilizer. Barnyard manure is seldom used because of the 

 weed seeds which it carries, as this material in the soil would 

 interfere in a measure with the use of the wheel hoes and hand 

 cultivators, and last because the onion grower does not have 

 it to use; so it is a question of commercial fertilizer. Opinions, 

 both with regard to the brand and the amount of fertilizer, 

 are as varied as there are different growers. A grower is very 

 apt to try again the brand that has raised him one good crop, 

 or that has raised his neighbor a good crop. There are growers 

 who buy the chemicals and mix their own fertilizer, but others, 

 and probably the majority, buy ready-mixed goods. Both 

 methods are in vogue and there are arguments in favor of each. 

 An analysis of 3.30 nitrogen, 8 phosphoric acid, 7 potash 

 (actual) is about the popular goods used in the valley, and 

 nearly all the fertilizer companies make a brand of this or 

 similar analysis. Hundreds of carloads are used annually in 

 the onion section. 



