ONIONS. 81 



the drill was rigid, if there was any deviation from a 

 straight line in any of the drills, there would be the same 

 deviation in all of them, and if we could avoid cutting 

 up the plants in one row, we should also avoid doing so 

 in the other three rows. Such a drill and cultivator 

 combined would be not only very useful for sowing and 

 cultivating onions, but for many other farm and garden 

 crops, such as turnips, beets, parsnips, carrots, etc. 



Until we have such a machine, we must do the best 

 we can with the tools we now have. In fact, a farmer 

 who undertakes to raise onions for the first time as a field 

 crop, could hardly use such a machine as I have proposed, 

 he would require to have his land much cleaner and 

 smoother, and freer from stones than would likely to be 

 the case on any ordinary farm. Land for onions has to 

 be made to order. Onions do better on old onion land 

 than when they are raised on any ordinary soil for the 

 first time. Nearly all other crops do better in rotation, 

 than when grown year after year on the same land. It is 

 not clear why onions should be an exception. I think 

 chemistry and plant food have far less to do with it than 

 the mechanical state of the land. If a man or a boy would 

 bestow the necessary amount of labor in preparing and 

 enriching the land, I see no reason to doubt that he 

 could get just as good a crop the first year, as he could the 

 second, third, or tenth year; but no man will do it; per- 

 haps a boy may. There was some excuse for men in 

 years gone by they had not the necessary tools. With 

 our modern implements we can place land in wonderfully 

 fine condition, at comparatively little expense, the first 

 year; but much of the work ought to be done in the 

 autumn. Suppose you try how rich, and mellow, you 

 can make an acre of land this fall. It does not make 

 very much difference how you do it. The first thing, 

 however, is to get off all the stones, and stumps, and 

 rubbish. If a harrow will do it any good, harrow it; if 



