138 Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening 



seed for each acre to be planted. These beds may be pre- 

 pared a month or so beforehand, and should be worked over 

 frequently to get the fertilizer incorporated into the soil. 

 They must be constructed so that the moisture in them 

 can be controlled. 



If the seed-bed is free from weed seed, as it should be, 

 the rows may be made about 3 inches apart, and the seed 

 sown thick enough to raise about 3000 plants to one linear 

 foot (6 square feet) of standard coldframe. This will give 

 500 to 750 plants to a row 6 feet long. There is consider- 

 able variation in the number of plants that can be produced 

 from an ounce of seed ; good gardeners are able to produce 

 about 5000. When the seed-bed is cared for properly, it 

 will give plants in six weeks that are large enough to be set 

 out. They should be set out before they are as large as 

 a thin lead-pencil. 



Setting out onions. 



The most expensive operation in the growing of onions 

 in this way is the setting out. This will be found to cost up 

 to $40 an acre in Florida. Boys and girls will set out 2000 

 to 3000 a day, while a good man can set 4000 to 5000 ; 

 and as it takes 160,000 plants to an acre, it will be seen 

 that it is no small task. It is claimed by persons who have 

 set out several acres that they can do so at the cost of 

 $20 an acre. In Texas it costs $15 to $25 an acre. Per- 

 sons who are not familiar with onion-growing will consider 

 that cost an almost insurmountable obstacle ; but when it 

 is remembered that it does away with the early weeding 

 and hoeing, the expense will not be so heavy as is first 

 supposed. Twenty dollars is not sufficient to bring an 



