124 GARDEN AND FARM TOPICS. 



is level, and it always should be selected as level as pos- 

 sible for the Onion crop, as when land slopes to any 

 great extent, much damage is often done by washing out, 

 the Onion roots being near the surface, and, consequently, 

 cannot resist floods as crops do that root deeper. 



Many Onion growers, who make a specialty of the 

 business, find it is economical to alternate the crop with 

 a green crop, such as German Millet, which can be cut 

 for hay in July, and the " stubble " plowed down in Au- 

 gust, giving a fresh fibrous soil, clear of weeds, for the 

 Onion crop to be sown next spring. It is not claimed 

 that the alternation of a green crop with the Onions is a 

 necessity, as it is well known that the Onion is one of the 

 very few crops that does not seem benefited by alternat- 

 ing ; but it is claimed that it gives almost entire freedom 

 from weeds, as after a crop of Millet which has been cut 

 before its seed ripens, few troublesome weeds will come 

 up the next year. 



MANURES. 



I have always held the opinion, that when well-rotted 

 stable manure, whether from horses or cows, can be pro- 

 cured, at a cost not exceeding $3.00 per ton delivered on 

 the ground, it is cheaper and better than any kind of 

 concentrated fertilizer. It should be plowed in at the 

 rate of thirty tons per acre. The concentrated fertilizers 

 in the market are now so numerous that it would be in- 

 vidious to specify particular brands. We ourselves, ex- 

 cept in using occasionally the " Blood and Bone Fertil- 

 izer," which we have proved to be excellent, use only 

 pure ground bone and Peruvian guano, which, for 

 Onions, we prefer to mix together in equal parts, sowing 

 it on the land after plowing, at the rate of at least one 

 ton per acre of the mixture, (when no stable manure has 



