10 



plowing ; four or five inches is sufficient depth to insure a 

 good crop. One of the finest pieces I ever saw was 

 managed by carting on the manure in the fall, and simply 

 giving it a thorough working into the soil with an ordinary 

 one-horse cultivator in the spring, after which the land was 

 raked and planted, no plow or an}- implement other than the 

 cultivator having been used. In this instance the soil was 

 naturally quite light. In the west, the ground having been 

 plowed in the fall, it frequently receives only a cultivating or 

 harrowing in the spring. 



As the great object is to get the land in a thoroughly fine 

 condition, to facilitate the covering of the seed with fine earth, 

 to leave the soil light that there may be a vigorous growth of 

 the plants, and to leave the land in good working condition 

 for after culture, no labor should be spared to attain this end. 

 On most soils the ground should be plowed, cross-plowed, and 

 thoroughly cultivated. If, from the backwardness of the 

 spring and the consequent wet state of the land, the soil should 

 still be lumpy, it should be thoroughly rolled before raking for 

 planting, and it may be well to brush-harrow it. As onions 

 grown from the seed usually require the whole season to 

 ripen, 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 a light and fine condition. 



THE SEED. 



In some locahties three pounds of seed was thought suffi- 

 cient to 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, 

 three and one-half pounds will be found sufficient for an acre ; 

 and when land is very heavily manured, four pounds may be 



