M 



ONION-RAISING. 



as though it had been raked by hand, with the advantage of 

 being uniform, which is not apt to be the result when there 

 are several persons raking. I find by actual trial that the 

 Meeker Harrow, with a single man, the driver, on a bed six 

 hundred and forty feet long, can do the work of eighteen 

 men with hand-rakes. Where the land abounds with stones 

 as large or larger than half a hen's egg, this harrow will not 

 press them far enough into the ground to keep them below 



the reach of the slide-hoes. As onions grown from the seed 

 usually require in the North the whole season to jipen, the 

 onion-grower breaks ground first of all in his onion-bed, 

 springing to this as early in the season as is possible to 

 work the land into fine condition. 



THE SEED. 

 TN SOME LOCALITIES three pounds of seed were thought 

 -^ sufficient for an acre ; afterward this was increased to 

 three and a half, and then to four ; and now, when raised 

 for tracing, five and six pounds are sometimes planted. As 

 a general rule, four pounds will be found sufficient for an 

 acre ; and, when land is very heavily manured, five pounds 

 may be planted with profit. Land that is planted to onions 

 the first time requires more seed than old land. If it is 

 designed to pull the onions when small for bunching for the 



