Vegetables with Edible Bulbs 141 



Cultivation of onions. 



"Tillage is manure" is an old and true saying, but in 

 cultivating onions one must be careful that it is done 

 properly. There are just two points to be kept in mind ; 

 to keep the weeds down, and to conserve the moisture in 

 the soil. The former is well understood by all gardeners, 

 and needs but to be mentioned ; the second, however, is 

 usually overlooked ; many persons recognize the value of 

 working land during dry times, but do not know why it 

 has the desired effect on the crops. At least an inch of 

 loose soil should be kept on the ground as a mulch during 

 dry times. 



For hand cultivation, the single-wheel hoe is un- 

 doubtedly the best machine now on the market. What- 

 ever tool is used, it should not penetrate the ground 

 more than an inch, and in no case touch the bulbs of 

 the plants. 



If the field is to be cultivated by horse power, it will 

 require a cultivator made especially for that purpose; 

 there is no difficulty in training a horse or mule to do the 

 work well, and a great deal of hard work can be avoided 

 by so doing. In the onion-growing sections, the land is 

 too costly to permit the use of a horse, and the wheel hoes 

 are used exclusively. 



The workers in the field carry a bag with them to receive 

 any purslane or other weed that may have been missed or 

 allowed to grow to flowering size. All these large weeds 

 are carried to the edge of the field and thrown in heaps to 

 rot. There are very few fields that are free enough of weed 

 seed to' grow a crop without some hand weeding ; this 



