ONIONS. 181 



to be stored — when they are gathered, carted and 

 placed on a barn floor or loft until marketed. If 

 kept over Winter, they should be protected by a cov- 

 ering of straw or salt hay, before cold weather sets 

 in. Onions keep better with the tops left on, there- 

 fore they are not trimmed till a few days before send- 

 ing them to market. 



On land manured and well-worked, Onions will 

 give a yield of five hundred bushels to the acre, and 

 they will bring from fifty cents to seventy-five cents 

 per bushel. For the last few years prices have aver- 

 aged higher. They are worth four dollars a barrel, 

 by the quantity, at present. As a rule, the Onion is 

 grown on the same ground every year and it does 

 better than by changing. It is important, therefore, 

 to prevent any weeds from seeding. 



In growing " set " Onions, the ground should be 

 of a light character, not over rich, and thoroughly 

 pulverized. The object is to get a large yield of 

 very small Onions ; the smaller the better, for if they 

 grow much larger than a hickory nut, they are liable 

 to run to seed instead of forming a bulb. 



Wlien the ground is made ready, early in April, 

 by ploughing, harrowing, and levelling with rakes — a 

 line is stretched, and the piece marked out with a 

 garden-marker in rows nine Inches or a foot apart. 

 The seed is then put in by a seed-drill, using thirty- 

 six to forty pounds of seed to an acre. The cultiva- 

 tion is all done with hand-tools in the same way as 

 recommended above for growing Onions as a field- 

 crop. No weeds should be permitted to grow either 

 between or in the rows. On heavy ground, seed, 

 9 



