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•County. Each is valuable either as a market crop or for 

 stockfeeding, or both. True there are other crops which 

 are cultivated more or less extensively, yet the above seem 

 to deserve the distinction of being the six most important. 

 In this essay the writer proposes to treat briefly of each, 

 touching upon its culture, fertilization, uses, etc. 



ONIONS. 



The onion ranks foremost as a money crop. That is to 

 say, speaking generally, the farmer realizes more cash from 

 it than from any of the others. Three or four hundred 

 bushels per acre may perhaps be considered an ordinary 

 yield, though five or six hundred bushels on same area are 

 by no means rare. Hence, at a fair price of il.OO a bushel, 

 the product of an acre of onions figures well up into the 

 hundreds in value. In selecting a piece of, ground for an 

 onion bed, choose fairly level land, free from stones, and 

 composed of rich, loamy soil. Old muck-beds, when prop- 

 erly drained and sanded, often suit the onion perfectly, and 

 produce enormous crops. Yet the product of such is natu- 

 rally soft in texture and unreliable in keeping quality, as 

 ■compared with crops grown upon higher and firmer ground. 

 The onion, unlike most other crops, does well when grown 

 •on same land for a number of years in succession. Indeed 

 larger yields are generally obtained the second and third 

 years than the first. Land which it is intended to devote 

 to onions, should have been highly cultivated for some 

 years prior to its use for the above named crop. Liberal 

 manuring from year to year is in order until soil is well 

 stored with fertility. Another very important considera- 

 tion is that the ground be comparatively free from the 

 seeds of weeds, indeed, the expense of tending the crop 

 depends very much on this condition, since if certain 

 weeds, as purslane, witchgrass and chickweed have 

 become established in the soil, onion culture is at best 

 very discouraging work, and profit in the business is out of 

 the question. Besides ordinary farm manure, unleached 



