Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-02-18
S1'ashinotun Standard
Concerning Onions.


tent than any garden vegetable
raised with the exception OF r'b
bages. With many they serve ."
double purpose of food and O."
ment. some persons who obho.
their odor and dislike their taste eat
them because they are nutritious and
conducive to health. In many por-
tons of Europe where land is scarce
and people desire to produce all the
food from it they can, onions are
raised to large extent. They take
the place Of butter and cheen" IN
supplying a relish TO coarse bfe~d.
They are sliced in vinegar and earrn
raw, made into soup, and cooa"d
boiling and frying. In the ", s'n
countries of Southern Europe oniuas
take the place of cabbages and pota-
toes to n great extent.
tits somewhat singular that onions
are rot fed in considerable quantities
to poultry and all kinds Of live stock.
Fowls of all varieties are extremely
fond of them, and derive great bene-
fit from eating them. Besides serv-
,ns all the purposes Of true food,
they aid digestion and tend to ward
of disease. They may be ted raw
or cooked. Chickens will eat not
only the bulbs but the leaves when
Clipped up and mixed with dough.
Chickens til It are allowed onions pre-.
pared in this way rarely, if ever, are
troubled with the cholera. Chick
ems that eat onions are not likely to
be infested 10y vermin. One of the
best kinds of food for laying hens
during the winter consists of cooked
meat, potatoes and onions. Onions
are cheaper than pepper to feed to
poultry, and they answer the same
purposes.
Almost all kinds of stock are fond
Of onions, and there is generally
considerable difficulty III keeping
them from eating them. Of course
they should not be fed to ri.lch COW.
owing to the odor ana favor t.i,1
impart to milk, b.; Der Kind. :
stock may eat ONION. II t only VII
out detriment, bui w.!i great aiv4n
tage. All animals delight il con-
diments, and there Is nothing iii The
line of relishes tina. .Arr will a. a.
readily as they viii o4.uaa For
young stock they should be Clipped
up and fed with grain and meal, but
for large animals they require nc
preparation. Onions that are large
enough to be salable III seasons when
they are tolerably high are expensive
food for stock, but there are always
many that are too small or too ill
shapen to sell.
To grow onions on large scale to
advantage the ground should be pre-
pared in the Fall, as the seed should
be planted almost as soon as the
FROST leaves the soil in the Spring.
As onions are gross feeders the land
on which they are planted should be
very heavily MANFRED. To prevent
trouble with weeds the fertilizers
applied should be free from seeds
which will ordinarily terminate be-
fore the onion seed will. Well-rot-
ted stable manure is excellent and
So are the fertilizers prepared from
meat, blood and other slaughter
house refuse. Salt and ashes are
also good fertilizers for this crop.
The first will destroy many insects
and the last will cause the plants to-
grow rapidly. Coarse and rank
manure are not desirable. Onions
should hot be harvested till the
weather becomes tolerably cool in
the fall, through they will ripen
quite early in the season. The
moisture should be allowed to dry
stom them before they are stored
way. They should be kept where
the temperature is good and the air
tolerably dry. If they are aided by
heat and moisture they will shrivel
and become unfit for cooking pur.
poses, and, of course, for the mar
ket. An ordinary cellar is too moist
and too warm for preserving onions.
An extensive onion grower makes,
for keeping onions, as deep pit as
he can with pillow in dry, shell
tered place near the house, scraping
out all the loose dirt with hoe, and
putting in some chaff or straw from
tho straw stack, aud tamping down
we'll. Then he hauls the onions
from where they grow, and piles
them in carefully on this, and puts
more chaff on top AMI covers up
with foot of dirt from each side
and packs it smooth with the spade,
where they can remain part or all
of the winter, or until wanted.
HINTS ON SEARCHED LINEN.-Much
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