170 LOWLY ONION A PROFITABLE CROP 



depends upon the quality of the seed. It has been found 

 in some districts that home-grown seed from selected 

 bulbs is to be preferred to seed secured from seedsmen or 

 from foreign markets. 



Cultivation should be more or less continuous from the 

 time the plants show above ground until the crop matures. 

 Some growers make a practice of cultivating the land 

 once each week. This cultivation should be with either 

 a wheel hoe or the so-called hand cultivator. The onion 

 is a more or less shallow feeder, so that cultivation should 

 only be to a depth of from an inch and a half to two 

 inches. From two to three hand weedings are usually 

 necessary. It is quite possible that a certain amount of 

 thinning would be advisable. 



The yields obtained on the soils that are adapted to the 

 cultivation of the onion are from 250 to 450 bushels per 

 acre. 



From five to eight acres is all that one farmer should 

 expect to care for during the season. 



Many gardeners do not properly estimate the advan- 

 tage of thinning their crops. If this plan were strictly ad- 

 hered to, the yield would be increased and the quality 

 greatly improved. 



