144 Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening 



It is usually better to push the crop forward as early as 

 possible. The maturing may be hastened somewhat 

 by knocking the tops over. 



As soon as the roots loosen their hold on the ground, the 

 onions may be pulled, as there is some danger of their 

 making a second start if the season is rainy. In such a 

 case they must be drawn out and cxu-ed quickly. In a 

 dry storing room, onions may be kept for a long time, in 

 order to await a favorable market. 



Crating onions. 



It is not necessary to use a fine material to make onion 

 crates ; the poorer quality left from sorting tomato crates 

 will be found to bring as good a price as the finer ones. 

 In packing, the crates should be well filled to prevent the 

 onions from being bruised, as they rot down very quickly. 

 All culls should be removed from the field, and composted, 

 to prevent them from drawing insects and growing fungi. 



Raising onions from sets. 



The earliest onions to mature in the North are those 

 raised from sets or small bulbs. The operation dififers 

 from the transplanting of young onions only in that the 

 sets are in a dormant state and are handled more easily. 

 The general directions remain the same. 



Varieties. 



The only onion mentioned in the previous pages is the 

 Bermuda, but it should not be understood that this is the 

 only one worthy of trial. It grows to a very large size 



