42 
M. FERRY & CO'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 
ONION 
The Onion not onlv contains considerable nutriment and has valuable medicinal properties, but is most useful in 
counteracting 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 a full yield, will avail nothing unless seed of the best quality be used. Given the same care and conditions, the prod¬ 
uct from two lots of onion seed of the same variety but of different quality may be so unequal in the quantity of mer¬ 
chantable 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 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 fa, the best and cheapest mode of production is from seed.' The facility with 
which seca is sown and the superior bulbs it produces , recommend it for general use. 
HOW TO RAISE 
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 cultivator 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 tine and level with a smoothing harrow or 
hand rake. It is impossible to cultivate the crop eco¬ 
nomically 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 outside 
tooth in and the head at right angles to the perfectly 
ONIONS 
straight mark made by the line. Continue until the marker 
has ^one around this line three times and 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 gradually 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 inch deep. The 
quantity 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 im¬ 
mediately 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. 
'Flie 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 the 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 hoeing and if necessary another weeding. If the 
work lias 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, aoout 
half an inch from the bulb and then after a few days of 
bright weather the onions will be fit to store for winter. 
C i r | p j Although the first of the red sorts to ripen, the bulbs are firm 
i~«A.i.rci x_*ariy I\cQ and keep remarkably well. A medium sized, fiat variety, an 
abundant producer and very uniform in shape 
and size. Skin uniformly rich purplish red: 
moderately strong flavored and comes into 
use a week or ten days earlier than the Large 
Rexl Wethersfield. Very desirable for early 
market use. Pkt. 5c; Oz. 15c; 2 Oz. 25c; 
% Lb. 40c; Lb. $1.50 
Extra Early Red 
Large Red Wethersfield ™ s 
favorite onion in the east, where immense crops are 
grown for shipment. Bulb large, flattened yet quite 
thick. Skin deep purplish red; flesh purplish wnite, mod¬ 
erately fine grained and rather strong flavored. Very 
productive, the best keeper and one of the most popular 
for general cultivation. The variety does best on rich, 
moderately dry soil, but on low muck land it is more 
apt to form large necks than the Danvers. There is no 
better sort for poor and dry soils. (See colored plate, 
page 5) Pkt. 5c; Oz. 15c; 2 Oz. 25c; V 4 Lb. 40c; Lb. $1.50 
Larof. Red Wethersfieid 
