Crops Jor Pickling and Preserving. 
717 
in some portion of the seed being over-buried, if the rest were 
put in at a proper depth. Nevertheless, after finely reducing 
the soil, it must be solidified, but not worked when wet, or it will 
become packed, which is injurious. 
The seed is generally sown broadcast for growing " picklers," 
as the onions are better distributed about the ground, and each 
plant gets a fairer share of space than when placed in drill-rows. 
After seeding it is harrowed in with light harrows or raked in 
with iron hand-rakes and, if occasion demands it, rolled as well ; 
the subsequent workings consist of hand hoeings and weedings. 
The quantity of seed sown is generally from GO lb. to 80 lb. per 
acre, but if its germinating power is low as much as l^ cwt. has 
been used. The appearance of the field when the onions are 
about 4 inches high is not unlike that of newly laid down grass- 
land when viewed at a short distance, so thick do the young plants 
stand. There is no thinning, all the plants being allowed to 
mature. The seed varies in price very much, the usual quotation 
being from Is. 6d. to 10s., though it has been as much as 20s. per 
lb. The cost of the seed is thus a very serious item, and the 
growth of seed is a most important part of the onion grower's 
business, which must be briefly noticed. 
The usual method is to grow the seed from bulbs placed in 
rows about 2 feet apart, though a considerable quantity is 
grown in rows much farther apart when used for providing 
shelter for cucumbers. Strong land grows the best seed, al- 
though light, friable soils are most suitable for growing bulbs. 
"Well-shaped onions are selected, and are transplanted in February 
in rows, about 3 tons per acre being required for planting a full 
crop. These, as a rule, will come to seed fit for gathering in 
September. The whole crop does not ripen at once, but as the 
seed-heads are fit they are cut and collected, and placed on 
cloths to dry. 
The method of drying the heads so that the seed will thresh 
out freely is somewhat tedious. The heads are placed on cloths 
resting on straw and spread out during the day, but before 
night or rain they are raked up into the middle of the cloth. 
Above the cloths hurdles are set up like an inverted V, and the 
ends of the cloths are turned up over them. The straw which 
thereby becomes exposed is gathered up, and placed on the top 
of the ridge formed by the hurdles. When the heads are dry 
enough, they are threshed by means of the flail. In very windy 
weather, loss often arises through the seed being blown off the 
cloth, where if any seed falls out of the heads it is collected. 
As onion-bulbs are worth from 3?. to 10L per ton, and some- 
times even more, seed-growing is very expensive. Unfortunately 
