D. M. FERRY & GO'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 43 



ONION 



The Onion not only contains considerable nutriment and has valuable medicinal properties, but is most useful in counter- 

 acting the bad effects of sedentary life. The disagreeable odor it imparts to the breath may be avoided in a great measure 

 by thorough cooking, or by eating a few leaves of parsley. 



In onion culture, thorough preparation of the ground, careful sowing and the best of after culture, though essential for 

 aJfuU yield, will avail nothing unless seed of the best quality be used. Given the same care and conditions, the product from 

 two lots of onion seed of the same variety but of different quaUty may be so unequal in the quantity of merchantable onions, 

 that it would be more profitable to use the good seed though it cost twenty times as much as the other. 



Our thorough equipment and long experience in growing onion seed of the very best quality, enables us to sav without 

 hesitation that our stock is fully equal to any, and superior in quality to most that is offered. 



Alttiough onions are often raised from sets and from division, by far the best and cheapest mode of production is 

 from seed. The facility with zohich seed is sown, and the superior bulbs it produces, recommend it for general use. 



HOta TO TiAISE OJVIOJ^S 



THE SOIL. A crop of onions can be grown on any soil 

 which will produce a full crop of corn, but on a stiff clay, 

 very light sand or gravel, or on some muck or swamp lands, 

 neither a large nor a very profitable crop can be grown. We 

 prefer a rich loam with a slight mixture of clay. This is 

 much better if it has been cultivated with hoed crops, kept 

 clean from weeds and well manured for two years previous, 

 because if a sufficient quantity' of manure to raise an ordinary- 

 soil to a proper degree of fertility is applied at once, it is 

 likely to make the onions soft. The same result will follow if 

 we sow on rank, mucky ground or on that which is too wet. 



MANURING. There is no crop in which a liberal use of 

 manure is more essential than in this, and it should be of the 

 best quality, well fermented and shoveled over at least twice 

 during the previous summer to kill weed seeds. If rank, 

 fresh manure is used, it is liable to result in soft bulbs with 

 many scallions. Of the commercial manures, any of the high 

 grade,complete fertilizers are good for ordinary' soils and even 

 very rich soils are frequently greatly benefited by fine ground 

 bone, and mucky ones by a liberal dressing of wood ashes. 



PREPARATION. Remove all refuse of previous crops in 

 time to complete the work before the ground freezes up. and 

 spread the composted manure evenly at the rate of about fifty 

 cart loads to the acre. This should first be cultivated in, and 

 then the ground ploughed a moderate depth taking a narrow 

 furrow in order to thoroughly mix the manure with the soil. 

 Carefully avoid tramping on the ground during the winter. 

 Cultivate or thoroughly stir the soil with a deep working cul- 

 tivator or harrow as early in the spring as it can be worked, 

 and then in the opposite direction with a light one. after 

 which the entire surface should be made fine and level with a 

 smoothing harrow or hand rakes. It is impossible to cultivate 

 the crop economically unless the rows are perfectly' straight: 

 to secure this, stretch a line along one side, fourteen feet from 

 the edge, and make a distinct mark along it; then, having 

 made a wooden marker, something like a giant rake with five 

 teeth about a foot long and standing fourteen inches apart, 

 make four more marks bj- carefully drawing it with the out- 

 side tooth in, and the head at right angles to the perfectly 



this line until on the third passage of the marker you reach 

 the side of the field where you began: measure fifteen feet 

 two inches from the last row, stretch the line again and mark 

 around in the same way. This is better than to stretch a line 

 along one side as it is impossible to prevent the rows gradu- 

 ally becoming crooked, and by this plan we straighten them 

 after every third passage of the marker. 



SOWING THE SEED. This should be done as soon as 

 the ground can be gotten ready, and can be done best by a 

 hand seed drill. This should be carefully adjusted to sow the 

 desired quantity of seed about one-half incli deep. The quan- 

 tity needed will vary with the soil, the seed used, and the 

 kind of onions desu-ed. Thin seeding gives much- larger 

 onions than thick seeding. Four or five pounds per acre is 

 the usual quantity needed to grow large onions. We use a 

 drill with a roller attached, but if the drill has none, the 

 ground should be well rolled with a light hand roller imme- 

 diately after the seed is planted. 



CULTIVATION. Give the onions the first hoeing just 

 skimming the ground between the rows, as soon as they can 

 be seen in the row. Hoe again in a few days, this time close up 

 to the plants, after which weeding must be begun. This 

 operation requires to be carefully and thoroughly done. The 

 weeder must work on his knees astride the row, stirring the 

 earth around the plants, in order to destroy any weeds 

 that have just started. At this weeding or the next, accord- 

 ing to size of the plants, the rows should be thinned, leaving 

 from eight to twelve plants to the foot. In ten days or two 

 weeks they will require another hoeing and weeding similar 

 to the last, and two weeks later give them still another hoe- 

 ing, and if necessary, another weeding. If the work has been 

 thoroughly done at the proper time, the crop will not require 

 further care until ready to gather. 



GATHERING. As soon as the tops die and fall, the bulbs 

 should be gathered into windrows. If the weather is fine they 

 will need no attention while curing, but if it is not they will 

 need to be stirred by simply moving them slightly along the 

 row. Cut off the tops when perfectly dry. about half an inch 

 from the bulb, and then after a few days of bright weather 

 the onions will be fit to store for the winter. 



straight mark made by the line. Continue to work around 



It will not do to store onions in large piles or masses, particularly in warm weather, or.' if they are the least moist, but if 



perfectly dry when gathered and they are spread not to exceed two feet in depth, they can be kept in fine condition till 



^ring. Anj^ arrangement wiU answer that will keep them dry and at a imiform temperature of about 32° fr., or they may 



^Fvtra Fq pli/ R or! The first to ripen, and one of the handsomest of the red -i j . P^ ^^P<^ frozen care be- 



rCXira tariy nea sorts. Asmallormedlumsized. flat variety; an abun- \%ki l?,^ ^^^%u ^'^ ^"l '^'fn'^K^ 



dant producer and very uniform in shape and size: moderately strong flavored, Nl^« th "^'h ? snouia be 



andcomesintousenearlv two weeks earlier than the Larse vi.S tnawed gradually. Ke- 



Red Wethersfield. VerV desirable for eai ly market use. Ti) Plated 1 1 e e 7 1 n g and 



Pkt. 5c: Oz. 10c: 2 Oz. "^Oc; h Lb. 30c: Lb.' $1.00 /M. tha^^ing \m11 bpoil them 



e Red Wethersfield 



This is the 

 standard red 

 variety and a 



lavonte onion in the east, where immense crops are growTi 

 for shipment. Bulb large, somewhat flattened, oval shaped; 

 skm deep purple-red; flesh purplish-white, moderately fine 

 grained and rather strong flavored. Very productive, the* 

 best keeper, and one of the most popular for general culti-** 

 vation. It is more inclined to form large necks if planted 

 on unsuitable soil than the Danvers, but is the best variety 

 on poor or dry soils. Pkt. 6c; Oz.lOc; 2 Oz. 20c; ?s Lb. 30c ; 



Iju. ^1.00 



Large Red Wethersfield Onion. 



Vfkll/MA/ riont/AKc A fine, productive variety of medium 

 Yellow UanVerSsize; skin coppery-yellow ; flesh 

 /<vhite, comparatively niild and well flavored. Pkt. 5c; 

 /Oz. 10c; 2 Oz. 15c; \ Lb. 25c; Lb. J>Oc. 



Large Yellow Dutch, or Strasburg 



One of the oldest sorts. Flat; flesh white, fine grained, 

 mild and well flavored. Pkt, 5c; Oz. 10c; 2 Oz. 15c* 

 ^ Lb. 25c; Lb. 90c. 



