Onions 



L397 



tool to use in performing the last work in ari onion Held. The disc 

 and wheel cultivator go too deep, while a shoye hoc in the hands 

 of a careful man, need only skim the surface. 



HANDLING THE CROP 



About the first of August the neck of the onion will become 

 soft, and some morning the whole crop will be flat upon the 

 ground. Very soon after this they are- ready to pull. 



If the grower has a large acreage he will have a machine for 

 topping. These machines range in size from small ones that 

 three men can run and which will top a few hundred bushels a day, 

 to those which require a dozen men to run and which will top 

 several thousand bushels a day. Small growers still do this work 



Fig. 42." 



■Oxiox Curing Shed at Left, Filled With Empty Crates; 

 Onion Storage House at Right 



by hand, and in pulling the onions will pull two rows at a time, 

 laying them carefully with the bulbs in one row and the tops 

 drawn out at right angles to it. The next two rows are placed in 

 a parallel line with the tops extending in an opposite direction 

 from those in the first line. Then with sheep shears the tops are 

 cut off and the onions of four rows are left in one. 



Crates are then taken into the field, the onions are picked or 

 shoveled up and the crates are piled in rows usually four high and 

 covered with boards to protect from storm. The next work is 

 screening. Only those onions which are large enough to go over 

 an inch and a quarter screen are first. Those which fall through 

 the screen usually sell for half as much as the larger ones. 



