The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-10-22
wlNTERINo ONIONS.
How They May be SUCCESSFULLY Keps
Through the Coolest Season.

How They May be Successfully Keps
Through the Coolest Season.
If the onions are ripe and dry it is an
easy matter to keep them through the
winter. If they are not ripe, or if they
have been ripe, but owing to being. left
in or on the damp soil they have COM
menced to grow, you have a difficult,
if not a hopeless task before you.
Every year we have many letters. ask
ing us for some method of keeping
seed onions. In our own case,s we
should not try to keep them, unless it
were a few bushels for family use.
Sell them for what you can get and
pocket the loss. One year, when
onions were scarce, we had a neighbor
who put his ''scallions" in the barn
and cellar, spreading them out as much
as possible to dry, and every time he
was going to market he got ready a
few bushels of these onions by cutting
off the tops and removing the outside
skin, so as to make them look fresh
and nice He found customers for
them at a good price. But whatever
the price let them go. 1t is no use try
ing to keep them. They viii never
make good, sound, marketable onions.
There are many ways of keeping
good, sound, ripe, dry onions The
great point is to keep them dry. But
YOU must recollect that even a ripe,
dry onion contains at least eighty per
cent. of water, and when a large mass
of them are kept together they are
liable to Sweat" and the skins and
tops become damp, and if the tempera-
ture is above freezing they will throw
out roots and commence to grow, lust
as they would in the damp soil. If it
is necessary to keep them in large
mass, put them in dry place, such as
shed or barn; then they will
freeze solid, and stay frozen till wanted
in spring. They must be well covered
to keep them from thawing, and you
should avoid putting them in barn with
basement underneath where horses,
cattle, sheep or hogs are kept, as the
warmth from the animals might thaw
them out. We have kept them perfectly
on the east side of north and south
wall, where the snow drifts several
feet high and remains all spring. They
were simply covered with coIn-stalks
and leaves.
They can be placed three or four
inches deep on shelyes in 4 dry cellar,
or in slat boxes holding about q bushel
each. The lower boxes should be
placed on boards, and notion the cellar
floor. The boxes may be piled up one
above another, but in such a way as
to ''break jointsn and admit of cir.
culation of air all around and through
every box. In other words, do not
place the ends and sides of the boxes
close to each other. Leave a space Of
two or three inches between the boxes
A little ingenuity may be required tc
stack them mp. and it is well to think
out the method before you commence
so as to know exactly what you are
! going to do. At any rate, see that the
| onions are dry before storing them in
| the cellar or house, and do not pacl
the boxes too close, and give frequen
ventilation and change of air by open
/ ing the doors and windows. Keep a!
near the freezing point as possible, anC
/ see that the cellar is clean and tina
there is no damp, organic matter any
where. american AgTiculturist.