150 Bulb or Onion Crops 



the best advantage. The land should be so' finely pulver- 

 ized that the lumps and clods do not roll on the young 

 plants. Usually the onion patch vi^ill need to be weeded by 

 hand once or twice early in the season, although in land 

 that is very clean and free of weeds this expense may 

 not be necessary. The better the preparation of the land 

 the year before, the less will be the trouble and expense of 

 growing the onioH crop. 



On some soils onions tend to run too much to top, par- 

 ticularly on those newly turned over from sod, or that are 

 wet, or those that have received too great an application of 

 rough stable manures. Dry soils and dry seasons tend to 

 produce small top growth and a relatively large bulb, al- 

 though the plants may mature so early that the bulbs do 

 not reach the actual size they attain on moister land. If 

 the tops are still rank and green late in August, or early 

 in September, and show little tendency 'of ripening natur- 

 ally, it is well to break them down to check the growth. A 

 common way of doing this is to roll a barrel lengthwise the 

 rows. The best onion crops, however, are those that ripen 

 naturally. Late growth is sometimes due to the seed. If 

 seed is from plants that have been grown for a number of 

 years in a long-season and moist climate, as in England, 

 the progeny tend to grow very late.* 



The onion is a somewhat difficult crop to handle and to 

 store unless the autumn season is warm and one has good 

 facilities for handling the bulbs. The onions are usually 

 allowed to dry or cure for a day or two before they are 

 put into storage. If they cannot be handled in the field, 

 they should be cured under cover, for the bulbs should be 



*0n this point consult Bailey, Bull. 31, Mick. Agric. Coll. 42 (1$87). 



