40 ONION-RAISING. 



in baskets, rejecting all stones, scallions, and rotten onions, 

 and taken in wagon-loads to the barn, when the tops are to 

 be cut off clean to the onion with a sharp knife, or what is 

 decidedly better, as it is less likely to tear the onion, a pair 

 of small shears or scissors ; or, if the necks are small and 

 quite dry, they may be pulled off by the thumb and finger. 

 This is usually done by boys or females at from two to four 

 cents a bushel. While collecting, look sharply on the 

 bottom of the onions to detect rotten ones. Some growers 

 prefer to leave such of the crop as they design to keep for 

 a late market untopped. If it is intended to market the 

 crop immediately, the onions may be piled to a depth of 

 three or four feet ; otherwise they should not be over two 

 feet in depth. The floor should not be a tight one : if 

 it is, then a false open one should be made above it, 

 with an air-space of six inches underneath. Leave the 

 barn doors and windows all open every pleasant day. As 

 the crop is topped, those of the size of a hazel-nut and 

 smaller are classed as pickle-onions ; these being marketed 

 principally for that purpose, usually bringing about half the 

 price of the full grown ones. 



TRACING, OR ROPING, ONIONS. 

 ■\17HEN THE CROP has ripened down but poorly, the 

 ' * greener onions are at times traced. This is done by 

 cutting off the neck within about two inches of the bulb,- 

 and binding it to a handful of straw ; beginning at the butt 

 end of the straw, lay the neck against it, give two or three 

 firm turns with the twine (net or wrapping twine), add 

 another onion, and thus proceed till the straw is covered the 

 larger onions being tied to the bottom and gradually decreas- 

 ing in size to the top. Onions so slowly ripened that they 



