1904 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
Big Onions.—I have been asked to tell 
once more how we grow our big onions. 
There isn't much to tell to a man who 
has tried it, and to the man who has not, 
no mere telling will answer. He must work 
it out himself. I will assume that any 
onion grower knows how to make a hot¬ 
bed. If I had a glasshouse I am satisfied 
we could get better plants to start with, 
but we have done our best with the hot¬ 
beds. Our seed will not be started until 
early in March, when Philip comes back. 
He makes little drills in the hotbed soil 
about three inches apart, and sows the 
seed a little thicker than it is drilled for 
outside planting. It is covered lightly, 
and of course the beds are aired and 
cooled with judgment. We have tried starl¬ 
ing the plants in boxes or flats, but I think 
the hotbed plants were stronger. The 
little onion plants are easier to start than 
any other hotbed babies that we have had 
anything to do with. The chief trouble 
that we have found is that they are apt 
to grow too long and leggy before trans¬ 
planting time. We keep them well clipped 
off with the shears. Last year we set 
plants that had been clipped four times, 
and they made great onions. To guard 
against smut I would use a little sulphur 
along the rows. We have had better re¬ 
sults with Prizetaker onions than with any 
other variety. 
The Soil.— We picked out a level piece 
of ground naturally strong, but a little in¬ 
clined to bake. At the time it seemed the 
best onion ground on the farm, though 
we now have a field which, when well 
drained, will be better still. The stones 
have been raked and picked. While we 
can raise corn or fruit or even potatoes 
on soil full of little stones, the onion needs 
a clear, open place to grow in. Last Fall 
we hauled well-rotted manure at the rate 
of 40 loads to the acre and piled it in a 
big heap near the field. This has been 
heating and cooking away all Winter in 
spite of Jack Frost, and will turn out fine 
and mellow. I would rather have it piled 
in this way than spread or plowed under. 
As soon as the ground is fit it will be 
turned over—either with the turning plow 
or with the big disk. We shall work it 
at least three times in this way, and then 
scatter the fine manure evenly all over 
and work it under with the disk. I do 
not want this fine manure too far under 
ground. After that all working will be 
done with the Acme harrow or plank drag, 
the object being to crush and pulverize 
the upper three inches of soil. Just before 
one of these harrowings we shall scatter 
at the rate of 300 pounds muriate of pot¬ 
ash and 600 pounds basic slag per acre. 
We use the slag because we happen to 
have it on hand. It will furnish phos¬ 
phoric acid and lime. We plan to have 
this field finer than any heap of coal 
ashes that you ever carried up from the 
cellar by the time the plants are ready. 
Philip even thinks it would pay to rake it 
all over with hand rakes—and he may be 
right. 
Setting Plants.— While we are grinding 
up the soil and making it rich the onion 
plants will be jumping in the hotbed. We 
have no exact date for transplanting. 
About May 10 ought to be right for our 
country, but last year we did not plant 
for two weeks after this date. This year 
I shall plant earlier—wlnm the plants are 
(he right size. I held off last year on ac¬ 
count of the drought, but we now know 
that the onions will grow even if stuck 
into dry dirt. Various plans are men¬ 
tioned for transplanting, but we stretch 
lines across the field and stick the little 
plants four inches apart on the lines. We 
make a hole with a dibble or with the 
finger, stick in the plant, and smooth 
around it. Last year our rows were two 
feet apart, but this year we shall crowd 
them to 18 inches. About a week after 
planting we put on 100 pounds of nitrate 
of soda per acre—not putting it within 
four inches of the plants, ff later the 
crop does not grow as it should we shall 
repeat the dose. Having done this It re¬ 
mains to keep the surface of the ground 
thoroughly stirred and the weeds dug or 
pulled out. I need not say that this is a 
fierce job, and while many will prepare the 
soil, feed the plant and start it properly, 
few will stay by it and keep it clean. I 
do not think this transplanted method re¬ 
quires as much work as the plan of drill¬ 
ing—because more of the working and 
weed killing can be done before the plants 
are started. The onions are four inches 
apart, and therefore less finger work is 
required than with the drilled method. 
Let no man suppose, however, that the 
weeds kill themselves, for those big onions 
owe much of their size to sweat and elbow 
grease. The fun in this crop comes in 
handling the great white beauties, and you 
will work a pound for every ounce of fun 
you get. Who cares, however, when the 
i9i 
ounce of fun comes last and the pound of 
work first? 
Good Corn. —We do not expect to raise 
many more corn crops at Hope Farm. 
This year will see about all the upper land 
in orchards. As soon as we can get these 
orchards seeded we shall let them alone in 
sod—cutting what hay we need and leav¬ 
ing the rest to mulch the trees. The lower 
part of the farm is strong, rich land, and 
will pay far better in onions, small fruit, 
peppers and similar crops than it ever 
would in corn. In our plan, therefore, 
corn has no particular place. At the prices 
we get for hay an acre well seeded to 
grass will pay far better than an acre in 
corn, with less labor and expense I shall 
raise a few scattered patches cf seed corn, 
and a fair crop of pop corn on a field that 
we expect to plant in pears and quinces 
next Fall. I have experimented enough 
with my yellow flint corn to know that 
there is great truth in what the “corn 
breeders” say. You take one man grow¬ 
ing an orchard of Baldwin apples and an¬ 
other with an orchard of natural seedlings. 
We see at once what an advantage the 
Baldwin man has. because he is raising 
something that is standard and true, while 
the other man has “anything.” I have 
not fully realized it until recently, but I 
now see that there may be just as much 
difference between a cornfield planted with 
a “wellbred" variety and one from “any¬ 
thing" picked out of the corn crib. My 
yellow flint is a good one—although it was 
not at its best last year, but a new variety 
sent me by P. B. Crosby last year beats 
anything I have yet seen, for size at least. 
Mr. Crosby, who lives in Maryland, tells 
me an interesting story of the way this 
corn started. Tt is too long to give here, 
but I may print it later. He started with 
i— 
ABLE-BODIED CORN. Fig. 80. 
Mexican June, which made a stalk 18 feet 
high, and finally succeeded in crossing it 
with an American variety. After much 
trouble and trial he got seed enough to 
start, and named his variety “Colling- 
wood.” Our little picture, Fig. SO, shows 
how this corn grew at Hone Farm. We 
had a few hills of it planted in front of 
Charlie’s house. This variety is a light 
yellow or mixed dent. I have never seen 
a variety that made such a tremendous 
growth of stalk. It matured grain with 
us last year and I regard it as a very 
promising variety. If it is possible to find 
room I will try to let Mr. Crosby tell his 
corn story soon._ h. w. c. 
Canada Ashes.—I think most of the 
ashes sent to the United States are gen¬ 
uine. The quality of the ashes, however, 
depends largely on the quality of the 
timber from which it is made and how 
well the ashes are cared for from the time 
they are made until they are shipped. 
Many carloads have been shipped from 
this country. I know men who have spent 
months collecting elm bark refuse and 
partly rotted timber during the Summer 
for making into ashes for sending to the 
United States. Such ashes are not as good 
as those collected from house to house 
where the people burn good hard wood, 
maple and beech. Much of the land in this 
country is still very fertile, and many 
farmers do not giver enough attention to 
small matters, such as the ashes made by 
them, and are therefore sold or exchanged 
for soap by the farmers’ wives. Quite a 
number of farmers in this country sell 
nearly or quite all the manure they make 
during the year. They say their land 
grows too much straw without manure, 
and that it does more harm than good. 
Leamington, Canada. w. w. H. 
Rough Cement Floors.— On page 126 
H. B. S. says he does not agree with me 
in regard to planking stable floors over 
cement; says he has no trouble with cement 
floors as they were put down rough. I 
wish to say ours also were put down rough, 
but this roughness after two years’ use 
wore off and they became smooth. Pos¬ 
sibly after H. B. S. has used his stable 
six years he may think differently. 
Wallingford, Conn. D. w. I. 
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No. G Iron Apr© 
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lithe 
Farmer 
Had Plenty of Help 
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