3 io 



GARDEN FARMING 



ONIONS AS A FIELD CROP AT THE NORTH 



The bulk of the onions consumed in tne United States are 

 grown in Northern latitudes as what may be termed the autumn 

 crop. This crop is produced in one of two ways either from seed 

 sown in the open where the plants are to mature, or from seed 

 sown in hotbeds or greenhouses from which the young plants are 

 transplanted to the field. 



Kind of soil. Whatever the method of culture, the soil is one of 

 the most important factors entering into the problem of the onion 

 industry. The onion is comparatively quick growing, and as a large 

 number of plants are allowed to grow on an acre, this means that 

 a large quantity of plant food must be available for the crop. It is 

 therefore necessary not only to have a soil that can be easily cul- 

 tivated and worked early in the spring, but one that is naturally 

 fertile, not subject to drought and yet well drained either naturally 

 or artificially. The fact that few localities have soils possessing all 

 these characteristics explains in a large measure the restriction of 

 the onion industry to comparatively few and somewhat limited 

 localities. Clayey soils that are stiff, hard to work, and slow to 

 come into good condition in spring are not well adapted to onion 

 culture ; neither are very light, sandy soils, because these, as a rule, 

 are subject to drought and do not hold fertilizers well. A some- 

 what retentive sandy loam or muck soil is preferable. Most of the 

 great onion fields of New York, Michigan, and Ohio are located 

 upon soils which are alluvial in character, having been laid down 

 in early ages by streams of water or as lake beds. Usually these 

 soils are well watered and contain a large quantity of decaying 

 vegetable matter, which is essential to the successful growth of 

 the onion. A sufficient quantity of sand to permit cultivation early 

 in the season is also usually present in such soils, but this charac- 

 teristic is not absolutely necessary to success in onion culture. 

 A good sandy loam, naturally well drained, which can be easily 

 irrigated or which is in a region not subject to droughts can, by 

 the addition of green crops and stable manure, be made sufficiently 

 rich to produce paying crops. As a rule, onion growers prefer dark 

 soils to those that are light in color. Whether or not this is merely 

 a fad is hard to determine ; but, as a rule, dark soils warm up 



