The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1909-04-22
An Onion Topper.

Dor is performed in keeping down the
weeds. This work will be greatly les
sened by seeding with some drill which
drops the seeds In a straight line, thus
enabling the operator to wheel-hoe up
close to the row, reducing the hand
work to a minimum. The Planet, Jr
drill proved a boon to us In this re-
spect But as onions are ordinarily
raised, even the use of good drill and
the wheel hoe does not sufficiently re-
duce the hand work. This can be ac-
complished in only one way; by keep
ing from the land all barnyard manure
as ordinarily used.
The man who, year after year, pre-
pares his land by seeding II down with
a multitude of weeds OF all descrip-
tions, including white clover, so diff
cult to eradicate, and then patiently
labors all summer to pay for his folly,
needs the charity and pity of his
friends. II is almost certain that he
will leave, In the fall, profusion of
plants to again SOW his land with trou-
BILE, to say nothing Of additional ma
nufe tne spring following.
White clover retains its power to
terminate even in a mass of manure
which has lain number Of years and
has so decayed and crumbled that It Is
nothing more than heap of very
black dirt. This assertion is made not
through a call upon my imagination,
but as result of examinations OF ac-
tual conditions. Only last spring I
removed from an old, abandoned barn,
black manure which had not been dis
turbed for several years, and the decay
of which, on account of a very leaky
roof, had received the facilities of
| shade and moisture. A careful exam
ination OF this dirt revealed the small
yellow clover seeds, which upon being
planted grew up into very nice stand
of white clover. And this is what the
average gardener deliberately places
in his soil and then YEARLY labors to
remove.
Surely II seems that there would
naturally arise in his mind the idea OF
separating from the fertilizer and us
ing that which benefits him and dis
carding that which Injuries him We
learn, upon inquiry, from farmers in
general, that the liquid manure is the
best, and yet this liquid manure is
generally lost. Let this liquid manure
be preserved and utilized on the onion
patch. There will then be no immense
crop of weeds, greater than the croT
of onions, to remove before the crop ol
onions can be made certainty.
II no liquid manure can be secured
there still remains the commercial fer
tilizers, and also common ashes, which
generally helps to give a good crop.
But, hear someone say, the use o
such fertilizers soon results in a hare
soil In which nothing can be worked
and In which nothing will grow. T,
which / answer, plow In some clear
straw which has passed through goot
separator.
By means of the above methods tn,
amount of labor usually expended oil
a given area OF land In the production
Of onions should be reduced one-hali
thus enabling the producer to almos
double the area.
The average crop OF onions raised b.
the methods in common use should no
be less than 900 bushels to the acre, a
we have proved here. and by the bette
methods above described, should b
. considerably more.
Accompanying is an illustration of
homemade onion topper which W
found very convenient. AS will be M
ticed, the knife is an ordinary cor
cutter.