CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 
389 
Pounds 
Nitrate oi soda, 14 to 16 per cent nitrogen 200 
Cottonseed meal 75 ° 
Acid phosphate, 16 per cent 75 ° 
Muriate of potash, 50 per cent 300 
Total 2,000 
For use in sections where cottonseed meal cannot 
readily be obtained: 
Pounds 
Nitrate of soda, 14 to 16 per cent nitrogen 300 
Dried blood 5 °° 
Acid phosphate 800 
Muriate of potash, 50 per cent 400 
Total 2,000 
When early maturity of large bulbs or bunching 
onions is desired, nitrate of soda should be used more 
freely. It is in general use among onion growers, the 
amount for dressing varying from 50 to 200 pounds an 
acre. The early applications are most valuable. 
The total amount of commercial fertilizer an acre has 
a wide range among commercial growers. A very suc- 
cessful Massachusetts specialist never uses less than 
two tons. The application, however, usually varies from 
one-half to one ton an acre. 
535. Sowing in the field. — The great bulk of the onions 
grown in the United States is produced from seed sown 
in the open ground where the crop matures. This sys- 
tem is especially well adapted to conditions known to be 
highly favorable to the production of onions. Practi- 
cally all of the American varieties, as Yellow Danvers, 
Yellow Globe, Southport Red Globe and Red Weathers* 
field, are grown from open ground seedlings. 
