THE ONION 



77 



it helps the fall-sown sets to mulch them when the 

 ground freezes.) 



The three most extensively grown of American 

 onions produced from seed sown in the field are 

 Yellow Danvers, Silver Skin and Red Weathersfield. 



Still another method, sometimes practised in 

 raising bunch onions for spring, is to sow the seed 

 in the open ground in late September. In the North 

 the rows may be protected by scattering a little mulch 

 when the ground freezes. 



A System.atic Business. — A while ago, Mr. B. F: 

 Stetser, New Jersey, told in the Farm Journal how 

 the onion business is conducted in his locality. His 

 words are well worth repeating, so I'll give them 

 here : 



In early April the onion seed is sown in rows 

 one foot apart. It grows until the middle of Jul}^ 

 when the entire crop is gathered. The stalks are 

 then about a foot high and the onions are about as 

 large around as a penny. Some have grown faster 

 and larger than others. These are called ''picklers," 

 and may be found in all grocery stores, bottled for 

 table use. Picklers are worth $i.6o to $2.50 a bushel, 

 and generally about 600 bushels are. gathered to an 

 acre. After these primes or picklers have been 

 sorted out, the culls or very small onions (sets) are 

 placed in large trays and remain there until perfectly 

 dry ; then they are kept till spring, at which time they 

 are set out in fields. Men are employed to keep all 

 weeds away from them and to keep the ground con- 

 stantly loosened up all around. Level, shallow culti- 

 vation is best. The sets that were planted first as 

 seeds more than a year ago, have by July 4th de- 

 veloped into good-sized onions ; and men go down 

 the rows with diggers which throw the onions out. 



