The herald., 1893-09-03

Onions require deep, rich and very
mellow soil. Many gardeners claim that
onions do best on the same ground year
after year, but the writer thinks that
this is owing to the extra fineness and
greater quantity of manure used on such
beds. A clover sod, plowed down early
in the fall and allowed to rot, then hesv-
lily manured over in the spring, thor
oughly rolled and narrowed until fine,
will grow an excellent crop of onions,
either from seed or from sets. A sandy
loan is the fsvorite soil for onions. Clay
loan is also good, but requires more
work to get fine, and is harder to keep
clean of weeds. Onion sets grown on q
well-prepared sandy loan will be found
/ beautiful in color, free from spots, and
are the kind sought after for picking.
The large onion growers always grow
crop of millet or Hungarian grass every
second year upon their onion ground,
msnuring the ground heavily for the
millet and using chemical instead OF
animal manure for the onions. After
the millet is cut for hay the stubble is
plowed down and allowed to rot. Such
treatment gives a fresh, mellow soil,
which is free from weed seed.
In using chemical manure for onions
it must be applied at the rate OF from
800 to 1000 pounds per acre and well
narrowed into the ground. The spring
tooth harrow and roller will firm the
soil sufficiently without using hand
tools at all. The Matthews drill will
SOW the seed rapidly and with regular
ity. If the seed is sown to make large
onions, six to eight pounds will be re-
auired; If for sets, 40 to 30 pounds will
be needed. 1t is very important to get
the onion seeds, or sets, into the ground
lust as soon as the soil can be worked.
They are half-hardy, and can stand con-
siderable frost without injury.
Just as soon as the seed shows above
ground, the ground must be stirred to
keep down the weeds. Most OF this
work is done by women-either German
or Italian-the pay being 81 per day. A
hand-harrow ia run through the middle
OF the rows, and then the women follow
with the hand onion-weeder, and clean
out the weeds. This wedding has to be
repeated twice, and, il the season is q
wet one, three times.
If sets are planted, the wedding Ia les
sened one-half. The Germans always,
at the last working, remove most Of the
earth from the bulb, which causes them
to grow much larger. An acre of good
onion ground, we'll enriched and cared
for, will yield from 800 to 800 bushels OF
onions, worth from 80 to 20 cents per
bushel; this will be about $500. The
manure and labor employed will cost
from $3.50 to 5000, leaving profit of
500 per acre. II sets are grown, the
profit will be $3.50, and in some cases 5000
per acre. Fresh northern-grown seed is
the best to SOW. Danver's yellow, for
shipping purposes, is excellent, hardy
and great cropper; for the home mar
ket, silver skin or white Portugal are the
favorites. For family use it is best to
plant sets four to six quarts, costing %
cents per quart, will give an abundance.
Always plant in rows, two feet apart,
and the sets four inches apart in the
row. Get them in early, and keep the
ground mellow; do not allow the ground
to bake around the bulbs or to become
full of weeds, as it Injuries the growth of
the bulbs at leaet one-fourth.