ONIONS. 



121 



tic of the tree and top onions. The seeds are black, angular 

 and flattish. Usually the plant after seeding dies and disap- 

 pears entirely, but sometimes seed onions produce peculiar 

 pointed bulbs, called cloves, as well as seeds. Such plants may 

 be considered perennial as well as the potato onion which never 

 seeds and is propagated by the division of its bulbs. The onion 

 has been cultivated from remote antiquity, and there are very 

 many varieties that have been developed for different purposes. 

 These are almost without exception grown for their bulbs, but 

 in a few cases no bulbs are formed. The bulbs in color are 

 white, red and yellow, with Intermediate shades. In the suc- 

 cessful raising of the onion, good judgment and experience play 

 an important part. Perhaps no vegetable crop is more certain 

 to pay the skillful grower for his time and labor and none more 

 liable to cause trouble to the careless beginner, and yet its cul- 

 tivation is quite simple. The prices for onions vary greatly. 

 They seldom are so cheap as to make the crop unprofitable; but 

 occasionally they get down to fifteen cents per bushel, at which 

 price they cannot be grown at a profit. There are few cinimals 

 that eat onions, and if not sold they cannot be fed to stock on a 

 large scale, as is the case with most vegetables. As a money 

 crop for careful growers in many sections they are among the 

 most reliable, and if a reasonable amount of them is raised each 

 year without regard to the price the preceding year, it is a crop 

 that will generally average a good profit. 



Land. — Onions may be raised on any good retentive soil. 

 Sandy land is too apt to dry out in summer for best results. On 

 drained muck land, large crops may be easily raised; although 

 onions grown on such soil are often a little looser in texture than 

 those raised on drier land. The land should be rich, fine and 

 free from weeds and any strawy manure or other material that 

 would interfere with close cultivation. Too much stress cannot 

 be put on having the land free from weed seeds, since it is a 

 crop that requires much hand weeding and the plants are quite 

 delicate when young. The soil should be rather firm for onions 

 and plowed in the fall rather than in the spring. Fall plowing 

 leaves the soil firm and in excellent condition for the crop. 

 Sometimes when the land is rich it is desirable not to plow at 

 all, especially it is was in onions the preceding year, but instead 



