The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-10
W(l!j Eagle
MAKING AN ONION BED.
The Story Told of How 1t Is Done Dow
in Sammy RFrroS,ffa

The Story Told of How It Is Done Down
in Sunny Bermz,da.
TIE making OF Bermuda onion bed Is q
work that requires vast Snoeupt Of time
and calculation. There Yves lob about 200
feet square on the outskirts of Hamilton,
inelosed with high wall, SO near to the
hotel that saw it every day and had an
excellent chance to watch the operation of
cult1vating It. The soil was dark and rich,
smooth and friable, as most of the tillable
soil in Bermuda is. Three men, all colored,
went to work at that lot the Last week in
January and began the preliminary work
toward making an onion bed. They paced
it of from north TO south, east to west;
measured il with poles, paced it of again.
then lay down under tree Co rest.
This measuring and resting took several
days When they were sure of the exact
size they brought in a horse and plow and
began TO turn over the soil, one man driv-
ing the horse, another holding the plow,
while tho third rested under a tree. After
two or three burrows were made there was
evidently a difference Of opinion as to
whether the lot should be plowed up and
down or across. There was an earnest con-
versation, vast amount Of pointing and
gesticulsting, and the horse and pillow were
taken away-
The next day the blowing began again,
and after three days OF what in Bermuda is
called labor, the lot was plowed. Such eX-
ertion of course demanded period of rest,
and after the lapse of one day the three
men reappeared, armed with hoes and
rakes, and began to smooth down" the
sol This is work that the Bermuda darby
must delight in. lie must first determine
where to begin, and that requires some
hours Of deliber&tion. Then, having made
up his mind, he attacks 'One corner with 4
hoe, and strikes several effective blows. A
carriage drives past, and he stops and leans
upon the hoe handle till it is out of sight.
Two or three more blows, and he goes slow
lyof to a distant part of the lot for drink
of water.
On his return to work he breaks two or
three more clOds, finds a stone or bit Of
broken glass that attracts his attention,
picks it up and carries it to one of his feL
low workmen to get his opinion of it. Re
turns to work, breaks a few moro clods,
and by this time IS SO fatigued that he has
to stretch out under a tree and rest. It is
only, of course, while he is under the boss
eye that he exerts himself in this way.
When the boss is absent the darby is asleep
under tree. He gets four English shil-
lings day for this business, and does not
earn one. Although the Bermuda darby
is better educated and generally more civ
iiiZed than his brother in the West Indies,
he is just Us lazy and just as thoroughly
worthless.
At the end Of two weeks the lot was
ploWed and raEed down to a proper smooth
ness Then followed period Of inactivity
perhaps to let the soil recover from its IN
woptcd eEertion. After a lapse of three or
four days the hen appeared again and re-
peated their former pacing of and measur-
ing, alternating this with siestas under the
tree and heated arguments about whether
the BEDS should run lengthwise or across.
This Important matter took days Of DELHI
Grafton, and at length the beds were
marked out.
Then came putting out the ''sets, ," for in
Bermuda the onion seed is sovn in the
open ground and allowed to grow until the
bulbs are as large as tho end OF a small
finger, tho plants being then transplanted
to long beds OF six straight rows each, with
narrow walks between. It took more than
q week TO put out the sets, and February
was almost gCns before the garden was
planted. Those three men were at work at
it for four weeks, doing what one good
American gardener would have done in
four days.
This was good example Of ''cheap" col
Ored labor: Three mcn at 81 day each;
twenty-fogr days, So; an American gar
dener at S. day, four days, S.. The owner
of that let would be frightened to pay
laborer s. q day, but re was really paying !
his men at the rate Of go a day each, con
sidering the work they did. But when the |
men went home to rest after their arduous |
toll nature began her work, and it is q good |
thing for Bermuda that nature is not as |
lazy as the darkies.
Tor two or three days the tops of the lit /
tie onions were wilted and brown, and it |
was hard to see that anything was planted /
at all. But they began to pick up. There |
came q warm rain and sunshine and more |
warm showers, and ut the end of the week |
the onion beds were as green as they would |
be with US in a month. All the weeds that |
show themselves are carefully pulled out /
By hand, frequently by women and chill !
drcn, and the soil is loosened with narrow .
spading forks with long handles,-Cor /
New York Times. /