180 ONIONS. 



ally or by artificial means. Fall ploughing, throwing 

 the land into twelve-feet ridges is advisable. In the 

 Spring an apjjlieation of twenty to thirty two-horse 

 loads of well-rotted yard or hog-pen manure, are 

 spread broadcast and ploughed under. The ground is 

 then ploughed, harrowed, and sometimes levelled with 

 a wooden roller before sowing the seed. An applica- 

 tion of two or three hundred pounds of ground bones 

 to the acre will benefit the crop. 



The seed is sown in drills, one foot apart, either 

 for field or garden, by a machine, using four pounds 

 of fresh seed to an acre. To insure the seed being 

 well covered, a light roller is dra^vn by hand over 

 the ground, in the direction of the rows. By mark- 

 ing the piece with the garden-marker and then sow- 

 ing with Holhrook's seed-drill, there will be enough 

 covering without any rolling. 



The early running of the hand-hoes between the 

 rows, is the only way to do in growing Onions for 

 profit. If the weeds gain headway, the cultivation 

 will cost ten times what it otherwise would. As soon 

 as the rows are designated by the young plants, keep 

 the scuffle and Onion-hoes active until the tops are 

 large enough to give shade. "Weeds appearing in the 

 lines of the rows must be removed, before they at- 

 tain any size, by hajid— the boy carrying a knife with 

 a carved point, made for the purpose. The seed 

 sown early in April, the crop will be ready to harvest 

 in the latter part of August or the beginning of Sep- 

 tember. The Onions are pulled out by hand, throw- 

 ing three or four roAvs together and leaving them in 

 this way for a few weeks, until they are dry enough 



