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VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



not below it and should never be hilled up. The onion crop 

 should De hoed and weeded as often as the weeds appear or 

 whenever the ground packs hard around the growing plants. 

 The weeds should be destroyed when small. This means that 

 until early summer the onions should be hoed about once every 

 two weeks. When the plants get so large that they will no 

 longer pass under the straddle cultivator without being bruised 

 the work of cultivation must be continued between the rows 

 until the bulbs commence to form, after which it is not a good 

 plan to work much among them, since pushing the tops about 

 tends to make them die down quicker than otherwise. When 

 the onions are about the size of a half dollar and before the tops 

 fall over, it is a good plan, if the land is not very rich, to apply 

 some qu'ick-acting fertilizer such as hen manure or a commer- 

 cial fertilizer broadcast over the crop. This should be don^ 

 just before or during a rain if possible. For this purpose dry, 

 fine hen manure is good, but any rich, nitrogenous fertilizer will 

 answer. 



If the plants are going to make good onions they will be- 

 come weak in the neck just above the bulb when nearly grown 

 and fall flat on the ground, where they should be allowed to lie 

 undisturbed until the tops and roots are entirely dried, then the 

 bulbs can be easily pulled out of the ground with a rake or 

 onion puller. In the vicinity of St. Paul, this time will be in 

 August or the early part of September. About four rows of 

 bulbs should be thrown together, and they should be turned with 

 a rake every few days until perfectly dry and then be put under 

 cover to protect them from rain. If they are allowed to get wet 

 several times after being pulled, the outer skins are liable to 

 come off and thus make the bulbs unsightly. If not pulled for 

 some little time after they are ripe, especially if the season is 

 moist, new roots are very sure to start and the roots become 

 grown so firmly into the soil that the work of pulling and dry- 

 ing them is increased. The work of cutting or twisting off the 

 tops, called topping, may be left until the onions are marketed, 

 but they will be found to keep much better if ''topped,'" since if 

 the tops arc left on they prevent a free circulation of the air 

 through the bulbs. 



"Scallions" or ''Thick Necks." — Sometimes, too, the tops of 



