D. M. FERRY & GO'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 



41 



OINIOIN 



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

 acting the bad effects of sedentary Hfe. 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 

 a full 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 quality 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 tiiues as much as tiie other. 



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

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



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

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



HOW TO RAISE ONIONS 



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 

 elean 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 ia 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 scallious. Of the commercial manures, any of the high 

 grade,complete fertilizei's are good for ordinary soils and even 

 very rich soils are frequently greatly benefited by tine 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 <;ul- 

 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 by carefully drawing it with the out- 

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

 straigHt mark made by the line. Continue to work around 



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 di-ill. This should be carefully adjusted to sow the 

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

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

 kind of onions desired. 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. 



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 spring. 

 Any arrangement will answer that will keep them dry and at a uniform temperature of about 32*^ Fr., or they may be kept 

 frozen, care being taken not to disturb them. They should be thawed gradually. Repeated freezing and thawing will spoil them. 



F "Vfrf^^i Ff4B^I"V l^i^rf '^^^® ^^^^ *° ripen, and one of the handsomest of 

 ■-''^^* *-* I-^CaB 1^ ff^CrVJ the red sorts. A small or medium sized, flat vari- 

 ety ; an abundant producer and very uniform in shape and size; moderately strong flavored, 

 and comes into use nearly two weeks earlier than 

 the Large Red Wethersfield. Very desirable for 

 early market use. 



Pkt. 6c; Oz. 10c; 2 Oz. 15c: 



Extra Early Red Onion. 



Large Red 



This is the standard red variety and 

 a favorite onion in the east, where 

 immense crops are grown for ship- 

 14/ DinDPCflAlrl J^^^t- Bulb large, somewhat 

 If vLIIijI oIIijIIJ flattened, oval shaped; skin 

 '.^ * -v. viiv.« ^ggp purple-red; llesh pur- 

 plish-white, moderately fine grained and rather strong 

 flavored. Very productive,the best keeper and one of the 

 most popular for general cultivation. 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. 10c; 2 Oz. 15c; 3^ Lb. 25c; Lb. 90c. 



Large Red Wethersfield Onion. 



