Ontons 1397 
tool to use in performing the last work in an onion field. The disc 
and wheel cultivator go too deep, while a shove hoe in the hands 
of a careful man, need only skim the surface, 
HANDLING THE CROP 
About the first of August the neck of the onion will become 
soft, and some morning the whole crop will be flat upon the 
ground. Very soon after this they are veady to pull. 
If the grower has a large acreage he will have a machine for 
topping. These machines range in size from small ones that 
three men can run and which will top a few hundred bushels a day, 
to those which require a dozen men to run and which will top 
several thousand bushels a day. Small growers still do this work 
Fic. 425.— Onion Curtna SHED AT LEFT, FILLED WitTH Empty CRATES; 
ONION SToRAGE House at RIGHT 
by hand, and in pulling the onions will pull two rows at a time, 
laying them carefully with the bulbs in one row and the tops 
drawn out at right angles to it. The next two rows are placed in 
a parallel line with the tops extending in an opposite direction 
from those in the first line. Then with sheep shears the tops are 
cut off and the onions of four rows are left in one. 
Crates are then taken into the field, the onions are picked or 
shoveled up and the crates are piled in rows usually four high and 
covered with boards to protect from storm. The next work is 
screening. Only those onions which are large enough to go over 
an inch and a quarter screen are first. Those which fall through 
the screen usually sell for half as much as the larger ones. 
