Cultivation. 



As soon as the rows can be seen the hoe is started, either the 

 wheel or the common scuffle hoe. One will often see hoes of 

 three or four makes working in the same field and all doing 

 good work, as much more depends on the man than the hoe 

 that he uses. From this time until the crop is drawn away the 

 fields are alive from dawn until dark with men, women and 

 children. jMany growers put up a little shanty which serves as 

 a shelter on hot days for the hands to eat their lunch in and to 

 keep the tools in at night. 



The lesson has been well learned that onions and weeds do 

 not get along well together, and the good grower knows that he 

 must weed early and often to keep the field clean. Fields that 

 have grown onions for years, or "old fields," as they are called, 

 will be easily kept clean with three or four weedings during the 

 season. New fields will require more attention, the crop need- 

 ing to be hoed from six to ten times, depending on weeds 

 and weather. After the crop has grown so that wheel hoeing 

 is out of the question the weeds can be taken care of with a 

 common hoe with a handle cut to a length of 6 inches. 



When the onions have attained their growth and begin to 

 die down they are "pulled" either by hand or with machine. 

 There is an attachment to the wheel hoe which consists of a 

 curved and sharpened blade that runs under the rows, cutting 

 the roots and throwing the onion out of the ground, and this 

 does good work if the field is free from weeds. 



The onions are allowed to lie for a few days to let the tops 

 cure, then "clipping" begins. This operation means the han- 

 dling of each onion and clipping the top off with the onion 

 shears. In the west machines do this work, but as yet they 

 have not been received with favor in the valley. After clipping, 

 the onions should not be allowed to lie on the ground too long, 

 especially during rainy weather, as this will cause the outer 

 skin to crack open, leaving the onion green, and interfering 

 with the selling and keeping quality. The better way is to 

 shovel them into old fertilizer bags with a wire scoop; from 

 these they can be readily dumped into the screen. Screens of 

 different sizes are used, varying in mesh from 1| to 1| inches. 

 Running over these screens the onions are sorted into No. I's 



