The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-01

plants on both sides, right and left. This
leaves but very mall share to be worked
by hand hoe. Really the thinning, which
should commence as soon as the plants
are well up, forms the greater part of the
hand work needed in growing onions by
horse power. In fact 1t will be economy
for every truck grower to provide him
self with a complete set OF Plannet junior
cultivators and seeders, for by an intelli-
gent use of these we are able to grow
crops at much less than half what It
would cost us under tne old system of
relying upon doing so much of the work
by hand. Both hand and horse power
are much cheaper than hand labor be-
sides no hand hoeing Is equal to the horse
hoe. The truck farmer who is provided
with these implements can. with proper
use of them, produce more crops than
five men can do under the old system Of
hand cultivation. The gardener who is
confined to smaller space where the horse
could not be used to advantage should
provide himself with a set Of the hand
wheel hoes which will greatly reduce the
as will enable the INTO grow large crops
| may state here that we are In no way
whatever interested i'm either the manu-
facture or sale Of any implements of any
kind. nor is this information given to
advertise any line of implements. l am
only interested in the success of the
truck farmer and my purpose is to fur
nish them, many of whom are beginners
in the business. with such Information
as will enable the INTO grow large crops
at the very lowest cost OF production.
Cultivation ls Profitable.
Several years ago I produced with this
system of horse cultivation COO bushels
of fine onions on one acre at a cost 1f
growing and marketing Of about $l0G
/ These sold for 81 per bushel. In the
summer of 1895 on an acre of land which
had become badly worn and run down,
we produced $50 bushels Of fine onions at
a cost for producing and marketing so,
besides the cost Of fertilizer most OF
which was made on the farm. After the
onions were taken off the ground It was
planted in COW peas and the crop of peas
more than paid for the fertilizer used
for the onion crop. Sc we did not ng-
ure anything for the cost Of the fertilizer.
This crop Of onions was sold ut 81 Per
bushel. Had these crops been planted
the usual way in drills fourteen inches
apart and cultivated by hand. 1t is n
question whether | would have produced
a bushel of onions more per acre than
did while the cost of cultivation would
have been more than doubled.
with a long experience In growing veg
etable crops / have found that II al
ways pays 10 lay out the fields In oblong
squares so as to use horse power in pre-
paring the soil and In cultlvating the
crop. This same plan of horse cultivation
for onions ! use for growing all root
crops such as beets. carrots, parsnips, ru-
/ tabagas and turnips.
Another plan for growing onions from
the seed Is to have the soil worked fine.
then SOW IN rows from twelve to eighteen
inches apart and cultivate with n wheel
hoe and hand hoes This system Of
growing onions and root crops ! abandon
ed long ago. adopting In Its stead the
systom of horse cultivation mentioned
above.
There are several objections to this
hand system. In the first place It conf
pels one to a level cultivation az well as
to too small n space for working, for Z
we should have u protracted wet spell
of weather the crop IS most sure to be-
come foul and We have no place to put
the weeds and grass pulled out OF the
rows With tho horse power system we
always have or can have, a clean space
between the rows where we can deposit
grass. instead OF having to carry It or
the field. as Is often the case where we
plant the rows so close together
Don't Crowd Crops.
There IS no section OF country anywhere
in the south where land is so scarce as
to require this crowding OF crops, so l
would advise the growers in these sections
10 use the cheaper system OF growing
their crops.
Onions are grown in many sections
from sets or small bulbs. These small
bulbs or sets are grown from the black
seed. which are sown on well prepared
beds at tho rate of sixty pounds per acre.
AS this belongs more to the seed grow
err or local gardener. I shall not take
up space to go into details,
Onion sets are more extensively planted