GIFT OF
Prol. E.J .ftickson

MAIN LIBWARY-AGRlCUt-TUWE DEFT

Olultun?

A Complete Guide
In Growing Onions for Profit

By T. GREINER

Rewritten and Greatly Enlarged

, New York

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

1903

-

*Ul»UMIAItY.

Copyright 1903
By ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

THE STORY of

The \

New Onion
Culture

526662

CONTENTS

PREFACE

THE WHY AND WHEREFORES, a sort of introduction.

A fable — The cat's trick — History of the new

onion culture — Blessings of an own home —

Large scale operations — Horticultural training

for your boy.

CHAPTER I

WELL BEGUN, HALF DONE. How the plants are grown I

Procuring seed — Growing seed — Plants in
boxes — Hotbeds — Sowing the seed — Fire hot-
beds— Hotbeds heated by waste steam — Cheap
greenhouses — Plants for sale — Damping off —
Soils for flats, frames and benches — Trimming
the plants while growing.

' CHAPTER II

As You MAKE YOUR BED, so you will lie . . 13

What soil to select — How to manure and
prepare it — The best soil — Onions on muck —
Sandy loam — Clean soil essential — Manuring
the land — An onion and strawberry combina-
tion— Preparing the soil.

CHAPTER III

A DIFFICULTY EASILY OVERCOME. How the plants

are set in open ground 21

The real work — One advantage of trans-
planting— Width of planting — Marking the land
— Trimming the plants before setting — Setting
plants — Planting machines.

CHAPTER IV

PERSEVERANCE THAT PAYS,. Tillage as moisture pre-
server and weed killer 32

Objects of cultivation — Tools of tillage —
Hand weeding — Mulching — Irrigation.

vii

Vlll CONTENTS

CHAPTER V

A TIMELY PULL AND HAUL. When and how to har-
vest the crop ....... 38

Danger in delay — Signs of maturity — Curing
t the crop — Curing sheds — An onion storage
house.

CHAPTER VI

THE FRAGRANT BULB ON SALE 44

The Prizetaker a Pricetaker — An inventory
— Crating onions — The crates — Wintering
onions.

CHAPTER VII

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL .... 51

Advantages and profits of the new way — Five
advantages of the new method — Estimate of
cost and profits.

CHAPTER VIII

THE OLD ONION CULTURE 55

Sowing seed in the open ground — Drilling
in the seed — After culture — Buying seed —
Onions for pickling — Growing sets.

CHAPTER IX
SOILS AND MANURES FOR ONIONS .... 70

CHAPTER X
ONJON VARIETIES . 75

CHAPTER XI .
INSECTS AND DISEASES AFFECTING THE ONION CROP 87

CHAPTER XII

ONION GROWING IN THE SOUTH 105

BIBLIOGRAPHY 108

CONCLUSION . 112

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece — The Author

2. The Story of the New Onion Culture ... v

3. Yellow Prizetaker Onion 4. 2

4. Plants Ready for Transplanting .... 3

5. Hotbed in Sunken Pit ...... 4

6. Hotbed on Level Ground .... 5

7. Forcing Pit Covered with Hotbed Sash . ' 7

8. Small Greenhouse — Elevation ... 8

9. Small Greenhouse — Cross Section ... 9

10. A Well-Prepared Seed Bed .... II

11. A Perfect Crop of Gibraltar Onions . . 14

12. Row of Scallions 15

13. Onions in the New Strawberry Bed . . 16

14. Disk Harrow -'•'.' 17

15. Acme Harrow 18

16. Meeker Smoothing Harrow . . . . ; 19

17. Old Style Garden Marker . . . ' . ', , 22

18. Single Tooth Attachment . . -'•',>• 23

19. Three-Tooth Marker . '~V ... 23

20. Tracing Wheel Marker . . . . .',-'. 24

21. Setting the Plants with Dibber ..«"'•' . ., 25

22. Old Kitchen Knife as Dibber . . . . 26

23. Dibber . . . . . ... 26

24. Trimming the Plants , , . . - . / . . 27

25. Wrong Way . . . ... . . 28

26. Right Way 28

27. Plant Set Right Depth 29

28. Plant Set Too Deep 30

29. Iron Age Hand Wheel Hoe ... . . 33

30. Wheel Hoe in Operation in the Onion Field . . 34

31. Single Wheel Hoe 35

32. Lang's Hand Weeder 35

33. Homemade Onion Hoe 36

34. Onion Curing Shed • 39

35. An Onion Curing Crib 40

36. Michigan Onion Storage House . . . 42

37. Bunch of Prizetaker Onions 45

X ILLUSTRATIONS

38. Prizetaker Onions Crated for Market ... 47

39. Iron Age Garden Drill in Operation ... 56

40. Comparative Size of Round Onions ... 59

41. Comparative Size of Flat Onions .... 60

42. Homemade Pickling Onion Sieve .... 62

43. Assorted Barletta Onions 63

44. Egyptian or Perennial Tree Onion 65

45. Onion Field in Bloom 66

46. Onion Seed Ready for Harvesting .... 67

47. Potato Onion or Multiplier 76

48. Large Red Wethersfield ...... 78

49. White Tripoli Onion 83

50. Beaulieu's Hardy White Onion .... 84

51. The Onion Maggot 88

52. Plant Attacked by Thrips ..... 90

PREFACE

In bringing this revised and enlarged treatise on
the new way of growing onions by the method which
has become famous under the name "new onion cul-
ture" before the public, the author makes no pretense
of believing that there is a lack of literature on the
subject of onion culture in America. On the contrary,
he willingly and freely concedes that all phases of the
culture of this vegetable have found a most liberal
consideration at the hands of the writers of books,
pamphlets, bulletins and agricultural newspaper arti-
cles. The author himself has been guilty of adding
largely to the mass of printed matter on onions. All
this, however, together with the large sales which most
of the more popular treatises on onion growing have
met with right along, only proves the great importance
of the subject.

The first edition of The New Onion Culture wras
issued in the spring of 1891, and had to be followed
by new editions in rapid succession to meet the unex-
pected demand; yet this demand still continues. No
further excuse will therefore be offered for this attempt
to take the subject in hand once more, and to bring the
"new onion culture" into renewed and thoroughly
up-to-date form.

Many hundreds of experiment station and de-
partment bulletins and reports on the onion have been
issued, a list of which will be given later on. A veg-

xi

Xll PREFACE

etable that has commanded so much and so long
continued intense attention, cannot be without great
merit, nor without unusual promise as a profitable
crop. True, the onion has often been looked upon as
the pariah among vegetables. Yet the great majority
of people are inordinately fond of onion flavor, even
if some try to hide their liking for it as if they were
ashamed of it. As a money crop, too, the despised
onion occupies a front rank. Its annual production
in the United States runs high up into the millions of
bushels. The importations, especially of the large
sweet or Spanish type of onions during spring and
early summer, also represent a- large figure, reaching
sometimes close to the million-bushel mark for the year.

My own earlier interest in onion growing was
revived by the introduction, in 1889, of the Prizetaker
onion, a variety of that large and very mild Spanish
type which we now import in still considerable quan-
tities from abroad. The bulbs, in my (then) New
Jersey sandy loam grew so beautiful and perfect, and
of such large size (although grown by the old method,
from seed sown in open ground in spring), that I
became really enthusiastic about the possibilities hidden
in the crop. In my further experiments with this
novelty, I stumbled, in 1890, upon the method now
generally known as "the new onion culture."

The new plan may now be safely said to have
passed the experimental stage. It has stood the ordeal
of a dozen years of trial, and sometimes of hostile
criticism or prejudice. But it has slowly made its
way into favor with those growers who understand its
scope and purport, and has made money for them.
Already in 1893 I quoted from a letter then just
received from Mr A. I. Root of Medina, Ohio, the
publisher of Gleanings in Bee Culture, and himself
known as an enthusiastic gardener, as follows, viz: —

PREFACE Xlll

"In regard to new points in vegetable gardening
during the past season, I believe what has been called
'the new onion culture' has made the most stir. At
one of the farmers' institutes, I gave them a talk on
the matter and exhibited some samples of large, fine
Spanish onions. After I got through I felt a little
afraid my talk had been pretty extravagant, and some
of my hearers, I was told, criticised me a good deal.
They said, 'Oh, yes, Root can talk, especially when
he buys manure from the livery stables, and puts on
more of it to the acre than an -acre of our ground is
worth ; but what good does such talk do us ?'

"You may perhaps surmise there were some among
my hearers of the class that claim 'farming don't pay/
Well, a few days ago, a man I had seen a few times,
came into the office and said he had something down
stairs for me to look at. On the way down he asked
if I remembered my talk in the winter. Then he said
he had bought some seed, and had been at work trying
the new onion culture. I felt afraid he had failed,
and was going to blame me for my enthusiastic state-
ments of what might be done on a single acre. By
this time we reached the place where he had left his
basket of onions. They were just beauties, and you
ought to have seen his face while he held them up and
told me how he did it. He hadn't any greenhouse nor
hotbed, so he raised the plants in boxes in the kitchen
window, and planted them out in ordinary clay soil
such as farmers use for corn and potatoes. I asked
him if he had found a market for them, and he replied :
' 'Why, bless your heart, Mr Root, there isn't any
trouble at all about the market. My neighbors right
around me will take every last onion at one dollar per
bushel, and I just wanted to see you, and tell that you
wasn't extravagant a bit in telling what a farmer might
do if he had only the will to do it.'

XIV PREFACE

"Another man in the same neighborhood raised a
wagon load in the same way, and brought them to
Medina, and sold them at once for eighty cents per
bushel at a time when ordinary onions were bringing
thirty cents per bushel."

I might tell a good many instances of a similar
kind from my experiences during the past few years.
It is generally found, that if the trial is made properly,
and under circumstances not exactly unfavorable, the
result will be such as to make anyone with a natural
instinct for gardening, just as much of an enthusiast
as the man in Mr Root's story.

After a full baker's dozen years of experience in
growing onions by the new system, I am still in doubt
whether to recommend it for general purposes of onion
growing or not. Theoretically I see no objection to
the substitution of the new for the old way even for
the production of the crop of ordinary onion varieties
for fall and winter use. The fact is to-day recognized
by all authorities, and stands without dispute, that
every one of our common onion sorts gives much
larger individual bulbs when the seedlings are started
early under glass than when seed is sown in open
ground in spring, as is the practice of the old style.
The crop is easily twice, possibly three and more times
as large.

Farmers' Bulletin 39, issued by the United States
department of agriculture in 1896, says: "Experi-
ments have demonstrated that the transplanting system
has many advantages, the most important of which is,
perhaps, the increase in yield. This increase is due to
several causes. The plants receive a good start under
glass before they are set in the field, and thus have the
full advantage of the cool spring weather, which is
most favorable to rapid growth; when sown in the
field, a month or more is consumed before the plants

PREFACE XV

are fairly started. This is a very important consider-
ation in the South, where the hot, dry weather may
arrive very soon. Transplanting-, if properly per-
formed, always secures a full stand, which is uncertain
where the seed is sown in open ground. Pulling the
plants results in more or less root pruning, and this
doubtless exerts some beneficial influence on the yield.

"Experiments at many agricultural experiment
stations show how material is the increased yield. At
the Ohio station ten selected transplanted Prizetaker
bulbs weighed eight pounds and four ounces ; the same
number of bulbs, not transplanted, four pounds and
four ounces ; Pompeii, transplanted, seven pounds and
six ounces; not transplanted, four pounds and one
ounce ; White Victoria, transplanted, eight pounds and
six ounces ; not transplanted, three pounds and seven
ounces ; Yellow Danvers, transplanted, five pounds ; not
transplanted, two pounds and six ounces. Trans-
planting gave a decided increase with each of the
fourteen varieties tried, amounting to one hundred per
cent in some cases.

"At the Michigan station transplanted Prizetaker
onions gave a yield of 548 bushels per acre, while
bulbs not transplanted yielded only 216 bushels;
Southport, transplanted, 296 bushels per acre; not
transplanted, 172 ; Giant Rocca, transplanted, 556 bush-
els ; not transplanted, no. Experiments at the Rhode
Island station gave a decided increase with Yellow
Danvers, Red Wethersfield and White Portugal. Red
Wethersfield onions transplanted at the Tennessee
station yielded 823 bushels per acre, while those not
transplanted produced at the rate of 206 bushels.
North Dakota station reports experiments with several
varieties, including Yellow Danvers, in which trans-
planted onions gave an increase from four to five times

XVI PREFACE

as great as those not transplanted. This enormous
increase in North Dakota is due to the abundance of
rain during the early spring."

In practice, the large growers of fall and winter
onions in the great onion growing sections of the New
England states, New York, Ohio, Michigan, etc, have
been reluctant to make the change in their methods.
For myself, I will confess, that if I had an ideal onion
soil, and were growing standard varieties for fall and
winter market, the Yellow Danvers, Yellow or White
Globes, etc, I am not even now prepared to say that I
would not grow them by the old plan, and I am dis-
posed to leave the choice between the old and the new
to each individual grower according to his particular
circumstances and surroundings, and possibly personal
notions and preferences.

My own soil is not particularly suited to the ordi-
nary onion crop. Try as I may, I am unable to grow
a respectable crop of Yellow Danvers or Southport
Globes, the leading varieties of that class, in the old
way. The yield, 200 or 250 bushels per acre, is below
the profit limit. For this reason I had to devise or
adapt a system of my own to make onion growing
profitable. I found it in the new onion culture.

Its chief purpose is to enable me to grow very
large specimens, and a very large yield, of the very
mild onions of the sweet Spanish type. Americans
may not think much of the Spaniards, as a nation ; but
they like the mild flavor of their onions. Hundreds of
thousands of bushels of onions are annually imported
into the United States from Bermuda (the old crop
during January), from Cuba (new crop during Febru-
ary), from France and Spain (during February,
March, and up to midsummer). Various portions of
our country have the right climate and soil to raise

PREFACE XV11

just as good onions as any coming from foreign
countries.

The retail customers of our grocery stores are
asked to pay five, six or seven cents a pound for the
imported "Spanish" onion. During summer, fall and
part or all of the winter, the home-grown "Spanish,"
Gibraltar and Prizetaker, onions can be sold by grocers
at a profit at three cents a pound, and allow one dollar
a bushel for the grower. I can see no sense, on the
part of the retail buyer, in paying the price asked for
the imported article, or of importing the real Spanish
onions and offering them for sale, while the home-
grown "Spanish" onion, which is in every way the equal
of the other, can be had. I would like to see the
imported bulb crowded out of our markets, at least to
some extent. It can be done by making use of "the ne.w
onion culture/' and of the fine varieties of onions of
the Spanish type which we now possess in the Prize-
taker and Gibraltar.

The only problem which remains for us to solve is
that of keeping the large sweet bulbs of this class until
spring or early summer, whether this be done by means
of putting in cold storage, or of exposing to the fumes
of burning sulphur, or in other ways, at which times
they would find ready sale at possibly twice the prices
obtainable for them in the fall.

The new plan of onion growing can be justly and
earnestly recommended for four special purposes, viz:

1. For the production of a full home supply of
the very finest and largest onions; and, especially to
the novice, as the very easiest way of securing most
desirable results.

2. For growing exhibition onions that will be
sure to take the prizes at any fair in competition with
onions grown in the ordinary way.

Xvill PREFACE

3. For market gardeners who deal directly with
retail customers and can work off a lot of really choice
sweet onions in smaller quantities at high prices with
their other crops.

4. As a means to interest your boy or boys in
gardening operations and making them enthusiasts in
the business.

Try the new onion culture on any of these lines.
If you do your part only reasonably well, your highest
success will be assured.

T. GREINER.
La Salle, N Y, 1903.

THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES

A SORT OF INTRODUCTION

"If I were a tailor, I'd made it my pride

The best of all tailors to be;
If I were a tinker, no tinker beside
Should mend a tin kettle like me."

Who has never met the "Jack-of-all-trades" —
knowing a little of all, and being proficient in none —
a clever sort of person, and handy to have around as
a "general utility" man, but never rising above the level
of mediocrity in anything, or able to aspire to great
things, or to command large pay ! The man who
excels, even in a seemingly unimportant specialty, is
the one who will achieve a brilliant success, and get
big pay for his work.

Some of my readers undoubtedly have heard, or
read, the old fable of the fox and the cat. The story,
like other fables, has a moral, and is worth repeating.
The two animals met in the woods, when the voices
of hounds were heard in the distance.

"Poor pussy," said the fox, "what will you do
when the dogs get after you ?"

"I know a trick," replied the cat, "and am not
alarmed."

The hounds, in the meantime, had come pretty
close, and conversation was brought to a stop. The

xix

XX THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES

fox sped through woods, and fields, and meadows,
playing one trick after another, in the vain attempt to
throw the hounds off the scent. The pursuers
remained on his track, and finally overtook and
grabbed him.

In his dying moments he looked up and saw the
cat in the top of a tree, safe from harm. "Your one
trick is worth more than my whole bagful," sighed he,
and expired.

Many farmers are situated pretty much like the
fox in the fable. They have a whole bagful of tricks
by which they hope to escape the usurer and the
sheriff. They raise a little wheat, and a little oats, a
few potatoes, a little hops, some berries, a few hogs, or
a cow, a horse, etc, things which often cost them one
dollar and a quarter for every dollar they get for them.
They try one trick after another, or two or three at a
time, changing from one thing to another; and the
harder they try, the harder they find themselves
pressed, and at last — pity 'tis, 'tis true — in only too
many cases they meet a fate somewhat like the fox's.

The whole bagful of ordinary tricks does not save
them ; but the one special cat's trick of climbing up to
the top of the tree or ladder will never fail to give a
way of escape. To rise above the heads of the crowd —
that is the trick worth knowing. Learn the one trick
well, and you'll be safe.

What I wish to do in this little work, is to tell of a
genuine cat's trick which I have recently discovered —
the trick of climbing up to the top in onion culture.
To grow larger and better bulbs, and more bushels on a
given area, than anybody else, has always been my aim
as an onion grower. Yet it would be a rash move for
me to defy the competition of growers anywhere who
have learned and adopted my methods. This is a case

THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES XXI

where the scholar may easily get bigger than his
teacher.

The new trick or "secret" in onion growing elimi-
nates almost every element of uncertainty from the
whole business, and gives to even the novice such ad-
vantages that experienced growers, and may they live
in the favored climate of California, would not stand
the ghost of a chance in competition against him for
the best crop, so long as they practice only the ordinary
old method.

It's mere child's play for me, or anybody that fol-
lows my new plan, to grow twice as many onions on an
acre as professional growers do under the old method,
and to send bulbs to market over which the commis-
sion merchants, and the storekeepers, and consumers
themselves, can grow enthusiastic; bulbs, too, which
are readily selling for seventy-five cents a bushel, when
ordinary onions bring fifty cents.

If I had been shrewd enough to keep the matter
to myself, and work it for all it is worth, I might make
a nice round sum of money by a discretion which, as
usual, is the better part of valor. But it isn't my
nature. I have to give the whole thing away, and
teach my would-be competitors the ways in which they,
if their soil conditions are more favorable than mine,
can easily beat me. So I shall at least not be open to
the charge of taking an unfair advantage over them.
But, if I cannot be the best of all growers, I will at
least try

*****

The best of all teachers to be.

•

It may be of interest to some of the readers to
learn the history of the new onion culture. It was in
1888 when a new variety of the large "Spanish" type of

XX11 THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES

onions was introduced under the name of "Prizetaker."
At that time I had the advantage of the use of as fine
onion land as the sun ever shone upon, a fairly fertile
soil in Monmouth county, New Jersey. I always
made it a practice to test all promising novelties. The
Prizetaker onion was one of them. It was one of the
comparatively few novelties which have lasting value.
It was above all others the one which made the testing
of novelties so profitable. I could better have afforded
to pay $500 or even $1000 for this test of the Prize-
taker onion, than miss the chance to invent "the new
onion culture." This is mentioned, to prove, en
passant, the practical value of novelty tests in general.
In short, even the first test of the Prizetaker onion,
although grown in the old way, by sowing seed in
open ground in early spring, resulted eminently satis-
factorily. In the fall of that year I had the prettiest,
most perfect onions, of reasonably large size, imag-
inable, and I became so enthusiastic over this novelty,
that I then described the new variety in agricultural
papers as "the king of all onions.*'

Even the next year, in 1889, seed could only be
obtained in very small quantities, and this at high
prices. In order to make every seed count, and know-
ing how easily onions can be transplanted, I sowed the
seed in hotbed in March, and transplanted to open
ground early in May.

The results were again so gratifying, the bulbs so
large and attractive, and their quality so much admired
by all who had a chance to test them, that acquaintances
and neighbors were infected with my enthusiasm about
the new onion and the new way of growing it. Among
them was a la.d of fifteen or sixteen summers, with the
same yearning for pocket money which we expect to
be the natural inheritance of all other boys. The ap-
parent ease with which these large and salable bulbs

THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES XX111

were produced, appealed with tempting and irresist-
ible force to the lad's mind. Finally he came to me
with a proposition. He must try to grow a larger
patch for himself.

There is no surer way to interest a boy in a certain
task, and start him in the right way and in the habit of
doing good work, than by letting him know he is to
receive a share, or possibly the whole of the proceeds
from his own efforts. There is nothing that will dis-
courage a boy more quickly than lack of good faith on
the parent's side. Don't make it the boy's calf and
the father's cow.

A prominent seedsman that spring offered a prize
of $50 for the best crop grown from one ounce of
Prizetaker seed. That was an extra inducement, so
the lad got the ounce of seed and sowed it in coldframe
early in April, transplanted the seedlings to open
ground in May, and raised a crop amounting to a
plump ton of nice onions which might have taken the
prize for largest yield but for the competition by
growers in California, As it was, the chief purpose
was accomplished, namely to put a good lot of pocket
money into the lad's possession. It is safe to promise
similar results to any boy for similar efforts.

The experience of these three seasons had now
firmly and permanently established the practice of
growing the onions of the Spanish type by the new or
transplanting method. It now only remained to im-
prove and systematize this new way, and to bring it
before the public for more or less general adoption.
The first edition of The New Onion Culture came out
in the spring of 1891, and made considerable stir
among American gardeners. Ever since that time my
efforts for the further improvement and simplification
of the new method have been continued, apparently
with good success. The pages of the little book now

XXIV THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES

before the reader, which is an entirely new work, give
evidence of the progress that has been made, and con-
tain all the information about the new plan now
available.

I claim some credit for the discovery of this novel
method. Still I admit I am not the first person who
transplants onions. On a small scale, specimens have
been grown in England in a similar way for exhibition ;
various growers have for generations employed the
transplanting process for filling out gaps in their onion
rows ; and others have practiced a plan almost identical
with mine in growing early onions for bunching. But
to apply the principle to field culture, to reduce the
crude plan to a system, and to practice, advocate and
teach it in advance of all others — that, I claim, is my
merit.

Professor W. J. Green, of the Ohio experiment
station, has worked out this same problem, simul-
taneously with me, but entirely independently. Nei-
ther of us knew that the other was following the same
track. The first, though brief, description of the novel
method appeared in How to Make the Garden Pay,
written by me in autumn, 1889, and published at
the beginning of 1890. Professor Green, soon after,
gave his version of the new onion culture in a bulletin
issued by the Ohio experiment station, and since then
the new method has been the subject of innumerable
newspaper articles, notices in bulletins and in agricul-
tural books.

In my attempts to reach a maximum crop, I have
often met difficulties which many other growers will
not have to face. For a long time the privilege of
selecting ideal conditions of soil and locality for my
operations had been withheld from me, and I have
had to make the best of circumstances and surround-
ings in which I happened to be placed by accident or

THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES XXV

otherwise. Yet adverse circumstances have not been
able to discourage me, and there is no need of anybody
giving up 'in despair merely because the conditions at
his disposal are not the most favorable. By discreet
management, one can do pretty well even if things do
not happen to be just as one would like to have them.

It is perfectly feasible, perfectly practicable, to
grow onions by this new plan even on rented land. Yet
I believe I would rather live in a hut, surrounded by a
few acres of land, all my own, and be able to say,
"J'y suis, fy reste" (here I am and here I stay) than
live in a rented palace. No matter how poor or defect-
ive the land, by a little effort here and there, and by
little additions now and then, the land can be brought
up to the highest state o'f fertility and cultivation in a
few years, and the humble house can gradually be
transformed into an earthly paradise, and all this with-
out much actual expense, or conscious effort. This
course surely will prove more gratifying than to oper-
ate on rented land, to make improvements from year
to year, and after a short period of occupancy turn the
whole over to somebody else, and let others enjoy the
benefits from the former occupants' labors and pains-
taking. But in whatever situation in this respect you
may find yourself, do as I always have tried to do,
namely, make the most of your opportunities.

Have I any doubt that Prizetaker and Gibraltar
onions may be grown in this way by one, two, three or
four acres with a profit? No, not the least. But this
book is not written for the purpose of getting the
reader wild on the subject, and into trouble. -It is
written primarily for the purpose of inducing you to
make some careful trials of the new onion culture,
operating at first on a small fraction of an acre of care-
fully selectee land, to enable you to learn not only how
to grow the onions, but also how to exchange them for

XXVI THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES

cash after they are grown. Then my responsibility
ceases. If you then conclude to grow these onions by
the acre or acres, you do it at your own risk and pre-
sumably with full knowledge of what you are doing.

I had still another object in view in writing this
onion story. What was done by the lad already men-
tioned, in this case, can be done by any wide-awake
youngster of ordinary intelligence. The new onion
culture points out or opens an easy way to him of earn-
ing a little pocket money of his own, and of growing
a crop of which he may be proud, and which will take
the prize at horticultural fairs, securing a little addi-
tional reward, notwithstanding the competition of the
old experienced onion grower who works only on the
old plan.

And what a chance for horticultural schooling and
training this affords besides! Can there be a better
opportunity for awakening your boy's interest in horti-
cultural matters and making him study up horticultural
problems for himself, than by putting a copy of this
book, and an ounce or two of Prizetaker or Gibraltar
onion seed into his hands, and a few square rods of
good land at his disposal for a start, and then tell him :

"Go ahead and see what you can do."

THE NEW

ONION CULTURE

CHAPTER I
Well Begun— Half Done

HOW THE PLANTS ARE GROWN

Our aim always is and must be for a prize crop —
for specimens so large and fine that we can expect the
first prize at any fair, and are sure of top prices in any
market. In this an early start is the chief condition of
full success. Without it the undertaking is not well
begun; with it, it is really more than half done. This
includes all reasonable care in procuring the needed
supply of seed in good time. We try to begin sowing
seed just as soon after January first as we can get a
spot for it in the greenhouse or a hotbed. I usually
have the best success from plants started along in Jan-
uary or not later than early in February. Yet I have
grown fine crops from seed sown as late as first week
in April. It depends somewhat on the season, but the
earlier sowings ordinarily will give the best crops.

Some of my onion growing friends grow their
own Prizetaker onion seed, which is not a particularly
difficult matter, and insures the possession of the seed
whenever they wish to sow it. I frequently have
found difficulty in securing seed, especially of the

2 , THE KEY: ONION CULTURE

Gibraltar onion, early enough for sowing in the green-
house when I most desired to sow, namely in January.
Sound, medium-sized Prizetakers are easily kept*)ver
winter, and may be planted out about September first
or next spring, in furrows six inches deep and five or
six inches apart, in soil of medium fertility for seed
production. When most of the seeds in a head are ripe,
the head is cut off and put away in a dry and airy spot,
to dry, and the seed then thrashed out auJ properly
cleaned.

Fig 3 — YELLOW PRIZETAKEl* ONION

When we depend on the seedsman for our supply,
however, the order must be given in good season so
that the seeds will be on hand when needed. Only two
varieties come in consideration with me, the Yellow
Prizetaker (Fig 3) and the Gibraltar onions. At pres-
ent there is little demand for red onions of any kind,
and for the pink (or red) Prizetaker no more than for
Wethersfield or Red Globe. The yellow sorts are the

HOW THE PLANTS ARE GROWN 3

ones that are wanted. For experiment you may plant
any other sort or sorts that you care about.

In a small way, plants may be raised in boxes (so-
called flats) placed in a kitchen window. A flat ten by
eighteen inches will give plants enough for a full
family supply of fine onions. Such a box should be
about four inches deep, and be filled with very rich,
clean soil, or with rich compost covered about an inch
deep with clean sand. Plants raised in flat, ready for
transplanting, are seen in Fig 4.

Fig 4 — PLANTS READY FOR TRANSPLANTING

The great majority of gardeners have no green-
house facilities. They must make use of hotbeds. For
operations during February or March, at least in a
northern climate, cold frames will not answer ; nor will
muslin covering. Common hotbed sash is the neces-
sary thing to cover hotbeds at this time.

There are two ways of constructing a hotbed ; one
by digging a pit and filling this with a two-foot layer
of fresh and fermenting horse manure, as shown in
Fig 5 ; another by piling this manure layer directly
upon the ground, a frame corresponding with the size
and desired number of hotbed sashes to be placed in

4 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

either case upon the manure, and then filled with pre-
pared "hotbed" soil, as shown in Fig 6.

It is only for a southern location, or for very late
planting at the North, that an ordinary cold frame
may be made to answer. This is a simple box of
boards or planks, slanting from the rear, where it is
about twelve inches high, to front, where it is only six
to eight inches high. This box is set directly upon the
ground in some well-drained and well-protected sunny
spot, facing south or southeast. It is then filled with

^Vv-^'^^S^Ci^ •?.- <r5JS^« : ^fc.'>; -TK^x ^

Fig 5 — HOTBED IN SUNKEN PIT

a mixture of good turfy loam, sand, and a little fine
old compost to about four inches from the top. Ordi-
nary rich garden soil, freed from stones and rubbish
by sifting, and further enriched with fine old compost,
well mixed and sifted together, will also answer every
purpose. The surface is made fine and smooth with a
steel rake, and marked off with straight furrows from
front to rear. They are easily drawn across with the
handle of the rake, or with a little stick, or even the
finger, and should be about an inch deep, and about
one and a half inches apart, or as close as they can be
made conveniently.

HOTBEDS 5

I sow about one and a half ounces of seed on the
space covered by a single sash frame, which is usually
three feet by six or nearly that, and expect from it
from 5000 to 8000 plants. To grow the 120,000 plants
required for a one-acre patch would therefore call for
the use of a frame of not less than nearly twenty
sashes.

The seed is to be evenly scattered into the furrows,
and the latter carefully filled in again with the hand.
The soil is then well firmed by pressing a piece of
board or block of wood down upon it. The sash or
sashes are then put on, and the bed left pretty much

Fig 6 — HOTBED ON LEVEL GROUND

to itself, except giving air on fine days, and an occa-
sional thorough watering when the soil seems to
become very dry. In eight weeks, more or less, the
plants will be ready for transfer to open ground.

Personally, I am getting to be more and more in
favor of greenhouses for growing plants of any kind,
and of onion plants in particular. We have to start
onion plants early — earlier, really, than it is conven-
ient to make and operate hotbeds, unless the latter are
heated by an ordinary flue, or, still better, by the
waste steam of factories.

A so-called fire hotbed (one heated by a flue) is a
rather simple affair, and easily and cheaply put up

O THE NEW ONION CULTURE

when you have the needed sashes at command. Select
a well-drained and well-protected spot for the bed.
If possible, it should slightly slope to north or south.
Dig a pit at lowest end for a simple furnace, and with
a few firebrick, some grate bars, and an iron door,
build a fireplace. The flue should run under, the center
of the bed, ending in a chimney at the upper end.
The hotbed itself is a simple frame, with a scantling
as a ridgepole, say two feet above the ground, and a
line of ten or twelve-inch plank on each side. The two
rows of sashes, resting on light rafters, and meeting
over the ridgepole, form a kind of a gable roof over
the bed.

This arrangement, of course, is simply a modified
hotbed. The operator has to get at his work in open
air, by raising or removing sashes, as in ordinary hot-
beds. Still he has this advantage, that he can control
the bottom heat. Whenever he gets ready, and no
matter how hard the ground may be frozen, he can
start up his fire, and soon get the bed in shape for
planting. If you have an opportunity to use waste
steam, you should consider yourself especially for-
tunate. You may be able to conduct it into lines of
two-inch tiles laid right under the frames, and thus
secure a reliable and controllable medium of heating
your plant beds at smallest expense. It is a chance
too good to be neglected.

But there is nothing to hinder you from utilizing
this same waste steam in greenhouse heating; and if
you have the sashes anyway, you can put one up quite
cheaply. In the absence of waste steam, a simple flue
might be made to answer. The illustration will give
you an idea of the construction of building. Put up a
simple frame, three-quarters span, and board up at
the sides and back. Better have these walls double,
and well lined with paper, or the space filled with dry

FORCING PITS 7

sawdust. Three rows of ordinary hotbed sashes form
the roof. The flue is situated as shown in Fig, 7, and
heated from a fireplace constructed as described for
the fire hotbed. There is no need of going further
into the details. I will only call attention t© some of
the advantages of this plan.

In the first place, there is next to no money outlay
required for it. The few boards and scantling needed
for the frame can be found on almost any place, or
can be had for little money. Anybody of ordinary
intelligence and mechanical skill can put up the frame.

0128 1 6 « t- W • »
Fig 7 — FORCING PIT, COVERED WITH HOTBED SASHES

A few of the sashes can be hinged, to serve for venti-
lation. You can do all the work of, running this half-
and-half arrangement under shelter and with comfort.
The flue being on one side gives a chance to raise all
the different vegetable plants. The high bed furthest
back, over the flue, will be the warmest. Here you
can start tomato, pepper and egg plants, etc, or use it
for forcing cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. The next bed,
in the center, which is somewhat cooler, may be used
for tomato, pepper, early cabbage and similar plants
after they are well started, also for forcing lettuce,
radishes, etc. The bed on the ground level is the
coolest and just right for growing onion plants.

8

THE NEW ONION CULTURE

A building of this kind is much better and handier
— and cheaper in the end, because more satisfactory
and more prolific of results — than ordinary hotbeds.
If you are not afraid to invest an extra one hundred
dollars or so, better put in a hot water heater, with the
necessary pipes. The house will be managed with
one-half the labor, and double the satisfaction.

A neat little greenhouse well suited to the needs of
the small grower and amateur, is shown in Figs 8 and
9. It is a double-span house, a little more costly than
the other, but extremely convenient, and fit for raising

Fig 8 — SMALL GREENHOUSE — ELEVATION

any kind of vegetable or flower plants, or forcing any
kind of ordinary vegetable. The pit for the heater
is dug at the north end of one of the spans. If I
build another, however, I should have only one span
of double the length.

Many other styles of greenhouses might be men-
tioned. Some growers who have a lot of hotbed sash
available for the purpose will wish to put up a cheap
structure and utilize their stock of sashes for the roof.
A house of this kind does not cost much, and with a
little ingenuity and good management may be made
to answer any purpose of an onion plant nursery.
It should be remembered that onion plants are quite

SMALL GREENHOUSES 9

hardy. They are not injured by a light frost, nor by
extremes of temperature or sudden changes, nor by a
direct transfer from greenhouse to open air conditions
without previous hardening off. It is true, however,
that we can force more rapid growth at a compara-
tively high temperature, ranging say between sixty
and ninety or more degrees Fahrenheit, than in a
much lower one.

One of my friends, near a neighboring city, who
has grown several acres of Prizetakers on the new
plan yearly for several years, has taken another course
to secure his hundreds of thousands of plants. In his
vicinity lives a party who makes a business of growing

Fig 9 — SMALL GREENHOUSE — CROSS SECTION

annually a million or two of tomato plants under con-
tract for some large canning houses which supply the
plants to their tomato growers. Some of the green-
houses in which these plants are grown usually stand
empty until nearly the time that onions can be taken
off the benches and set in open ground. A crop of
onion plants may here be produced just as well as not,
and with but slight additional expense. So my friend
contracts for his plants with these tomato plant grow-
ers with profit to both parties in the transaction.

In my own little greenhouse I have for many years
done exactly as these professional plant growers do,
namely, have grown my onion plants during the win-

10 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

ter; and when the benches were cleared from them in
April, filled the vacant spaces up with tomato, egg and
pepper plants just as fast as there was a chance. Thus
I make the best use of my available bench room.

Often there is considerable call for Prizetaker
onion plants in early spring, and even up to June.
The price usually asked Tor them ranges from fifty
cents to one dollar per thousand plants, and I am sure
that they can be grown at that figure at a good profit
where greenhouses are available, and possibly stand
idle anywhere during a part of that time.

In growing onion seedlings under glass I have
had to fight only one single enemy — and that is the
damping-off fungus. I have at times lost a consider-
able portion of my plants from this cause. The stem
appears to dwindle away near, usually just below, the
surface of the ground, and the top falls over and dries
away. The infection undoubtedly comes from the soil.
If we use new soil, or 'any soil that is free from the
fungus, the plants will remain healthy. Watering the
soil freely with a solution of copper sulphate, a pound
to two hundred gallons of water, has seemed to prevent
the loss of plants from this cause. An excessively
high temperature and a close, moist atmosphere should
be avoided, and the surface of the bed should never be
allowed to become dust dry. To provide for possible
loss caused by the disease, however, I practice and
advise sowing seed rather thickly as already stated
(not less than one and one-half ounces to the space
covered by an ordinary hotbed sash). It is better to
be compelled to thin plants where too thick, than to
have large vacant spots in the bed.

It is possible, however, to prepare the seed bed in
such a 'manner that the fungus is entirely kept out.
For instance, I have used clear, sharp sand brought
fresh from the bank of the river, sowed the seed in

PREPARING THE SEED BED

II

this, and then fed the plants entirely on liquid manure.
I have a cistern under one corner of the barn. The
rain water washes a good deal of pigeon manure off
the roof into this cistern. Then I add chemical ferti-
lizers, especially acid phosphate, muriate of potash and
a little nitrate of soda or potash, and find that by

Fig IO — A WELL-PREPARED SEED BED

watering the onion beds copiously with this liquid,
I can force a very rapid growth in my seedlings.

Another safe plan is to fill the seed bed, bench,
frame or box pretty well up with good old compost,
or very rich soil well pressed down, and on top of this
to place a layer, an inch or inch and a half deep, of
clear, sharp river sand. The seed is sown into this
sand. The roots of the seedlings will soon get down

12 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

into the rich feeding grounds under the sand, and
produce a wonderfully thrifty and healthy growth, as
seen in Fig 10.

A further advantage of this method is that but
few weeds come up among the onion plants. If weeds
appear, pull them up by hand. Where plants stand
overcrowded in the rows, thin, even severely, where
needed. The bed will require frequent and copious
watering. When the plants are making good growth,
during latter part of February and especially in the
sunshiny days of March, I give my onion seedlings
their regular daily soaking.

When standing as thickly in the beds as I want
them they are also sure to get top-heavy and will need
repeated and severe clipping. I usually cut them back
with a pair of common sheep shears, removing each
time nearly the full upper half (in length) of the
plant. Our aim is to get seedlings the bulb of which,
just above the roots, is between one-eighth and three-
sixteenths of an inch in diameter (if of nearly pencil
thickness, all the better) , and this by the time that the
open ground is ready to receive them.

CHAPTER II

As You Make Your Bed, So You'll Lie

WHAT SOIL TO SELECT, HOW TO MANURE AND
PREPARE IT

"What spot would you advise me to select for
my onion patch?"

The inquirer had told me that he had a piece of
good loam, not excessively fertile, 'tis true, but having
been cropped with carrots and beets the year before,
consequently quite clean, and in fair tilth, and of
course, well underdrained.

"That is the exact spot you want," said I.

"Why not plant it on that deep, rich muck?"
came the next query.

"It is decidedly too loose and moist. The fine
Gibraltars and Prizetakefs might all take a notion to
grow up thick-necked — romps, scallions, and worthless
for sale or keep. By all means take loam, sandy pre-
ferred, and if possible with good natural drainage, but
certainly not without thorough drainage of some kind.
Water should never stand on the surface of an onion
patch even for a single day."

On the whole, however, I do not object to Well-
drained, deep, rich muck. I myself have grown ex-
cellent crops, in the old way, on such soil, and once
I went through a several-acre patch in Mt Morris,
N Y — soil being muck with a little sand mixed in,
and the land arranged for sub-irrigation — which had
an enormous crop of Yellow Danvers upon it, un-
doubtedly more than 1000 bushels per acre. It will

14 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

be hard to find better onion soil than a well-drained,
well-subdued sandy muck.

With good plants, and an early start, I would not
hesitate to set Prizetakers or Gibraltars on such well-
drained muck land. Small, poorly-grown plants, set
late in the season on moist muck soil that is exces-
sively rich in nitrogen and less abundantly supplied
with mineral plant foods, are liable, especially in a
wet season, to give you thick-necked, worthless onions,
and plants rather than bulbs. Sand and sandy loam,
however, favor this undesirable development much less
than other soils.

Fig II — A PERFECT CROP OF GIBRALTAR ONIONS

I wish to call especial attention to this fact, that
wherever plants of nearly pencil thickness were set
reasonably early in the season, the onions were large,
uniform and fine, without break in the row, and the
yield at a high acre rate. One of the finest crops of
perfect bulbs — of Gibraltars, Yellow and Pink Prize-
takers — that I ever grew, I secured last year on a clay
loam of only fair fertility, but having good drainage.
The season was excessively wet, especially in its earlier
part, and reports received by me showed that many
patches of onions of this type, all over the country,
produced little else but scallions. My patch had re-
ceived only a light dressing of old stable manure, but
a good dose of muriate of potash and acid phosphate,

WHAT SOIL TO SELECT 15

at the rate of several hundred pounds each per acre,
applied broadcast just before the last harrowing. Such
an application seems always safe, in fact safer than
the use of excessive quantities of organic and nitrog-
enous manures, except on sandy soils.

Stimulated by the continuous and excessive rain-
fall of the earlier part of the season, the onion plants
showed some tendency to produce thick necks, and a
continuation of these abnormal conditions might have
spoiled the patch. But the rains finally ceased, recur-
ring only at reasonable intervals and just sufficiently

ROW OF SCALLIONS

to provide a fair supply of moisture 'for healthy
growth. The outcome was a crop of onions which as
an average appeared as seen in Fig n in comparison
with scallions, Fig 12, the single specimens weighing
from three-fourths to one and one-half pounds apiece.
The soil must be free from stones and coarse
gravel, and rubbish of any kind, and as near as pos-
sible, also, from weed seeds. A new clover sod that
will pulverize nicely will do first rate; but if the sod
is old and tough, it would hardly be suitable for our
purpose shortly after being broken. A crop of pota-
toes, corn, beets, carrots, cabbages, etc, will get such a
sod land in admirable shape for a succeeding crop
of onions.

l6 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

Whatever the soil, and in whatever condition, the
leavings of the preceding crop, coarse weed stalks,
etc, should be removed with great care before the plow
is struck in. All such rubbish interferes in a very
inconvenient manner with after-cultivation, and any
neglect in the proper preparation of the soil will be
greatly regretted later in the season.

This disposes of the problem what soil to select
for the onion crop. Now what about manure? Some
suggestions have already been given. I have usually
recommended greatest liberality in the use of all sorts
of manurial substances.

- tiP 9

Fig 13 — ONIONS IN THE NEW STRAWBERRY BED

"Put it on thick" is still my advice when we have
plenty of any kind of good compost that is reasonably
free from weed seeds, and the soil is of a rather sandy
nature. But if the latter is strong loam and very rich
already, or a loose rich muck, I feel that light dress-
ings of organic manures will do well enough, and may
be safer, the larger proportion of the plant foods to be
given in the form of standard chemicals, especially
plain superphosphate (such as dissolved South Carolina
rock) and muriate of potash, up to 500 pounds per
acre of the former and 200 or 250 pounds of the latter,
and an occasional light dressing, say TOO pounds, of
nitrate of soda if the plants seem to need it, that is,

WHAT MANURE TO USE I/

if they fail to make a thrifty succulent growth. These
applications of chemical manures, especially phosphate
and potash, I believe are always safe and will seldom
fail to show good results. Yet I do not wish to be
understood as asserting that good onion crops cannot
be grown without them. I have seen and grown ex-
cellent crops of fine solid bulbs on good soil manured
only with common barnyard or stockyard manure.

All sorts of domestic manures come acceptable for
onion growing — horse manure, cow manure, hog

Fig 14 — DISK HARROW OR PULVERIZER

manure, sheep manure, poultry manure — or all sorts
of mixtures and composts, the finer the better. Poultry
manure is most excellent for onions, and there is no
need of being afraid of it. My way of managing it is
to scatter some dry soil, muck or sifted coal ashes
under the perches from time to time. Thus I obtain
a fine, dry, rich compost, and I would not hesitate to
put this inch-deep all over the ground if I could only
get enough of it for such a dressing. It brings the
onions every time. I usually apply it after the ground
is plowed in spring, mixing it with the surface soil by
thorough harrowing.

Besides these manures I would use everything else

l8 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

I could get hold of in the shape of fertilizing1 ma-
terials, such as wood ashes, leached and unleached,
etc; but I should not use raw manure, and none not
reasonably free from weed seeds, as I have already
stated.

For house use, and especially to secure a supply of
fine bulbs for the table during midsummer, I have
sometimes planted a lot of onion seedlings in the new
strawberry patch, in the manner illustrated in Fig- 13.

I usually plant my strawberries rather farther
apart than most people. I lay off the rows four feet
apart, and set the plants three feet apart, and for such

Fig IS — ACME HARROW

inveterate plant-makers at Michel's Early perhaps
even four feet apart in the rows. This leaves plenty
of vacant space between the plants, which may be
utilized to good advantage by setting half a dozen or a
dozen of onion plants between each two strawberry
plants in the row. Of course these onion plants are
pulled up early, sometimes even for green onions, and
in most cases before the tops have entirely died down,
so as to make room for the strawberry runners, which
in the latter part of the season try to occupy the entire
space in the rows. But I have grown as large and
solid onions in this manner, and this without extra
fussing and with less painstaking than in the regular
onion patch.

IIOVV TO FIT THE LAND IQ

HOW TO FIT THE LAND FOR THE ONION CROP

If at all practicable, I invariably try to plow the
land deeply and thoroughly during1 the fall previous,
leaving it in the rough and exposed to the benevolent
action of the weather, especially repeated freezing and
thawing. Fine manure in the desired quantity may
be applied any time during the winter or early spring
directly upon the plowed surface, or upon the snow
covering it.

While spring plowing may not be required on
mucky or loose loamy soils, I would not omit it if the
soil is packed hard by winter rains and snows, or if

Fig l6 — MEEKER SMOOTHING HARROW

the manure applied is in the least coarse. Manure that
will not work up perfectly fine, and mixed with the
soil will not make a perfect seed bed, should be
plowed under.

On our own soils we have to use the disk har-
row or pulverizer (Fig 14) in order to get the land in
best condition. This cuts deep and works the ground
over very thoroughly. I prefer to use this first, then
follow with the Acme (Fig 15), which smooths the
surface that the disk has left somewhat ridged. In
the absence of an Acme, a common smoothing harrow
or drag will do very well. Should neither disk; nor
Acme be at command, I would use a narrow-bladed
cultivator, such as the Planet Jr or Iron Age horse
hoe, or a spike-tooth cultivator, stirring up the whole

20 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

surface, and thus mixing the compost with the soil in
a thorough manner.

The rich, fine sandy loams, or soils which, like
sandy muck, contain a large amount of organic matter
cr humus, will not usually need so much manipulation.
The free use of an ordinary "drag" or smoothing
harrow after plowing will be all that is required to
get the surface reasonably smooth and fine. Chemical
manures, if to be used, may now be applied broadcast
or with a drill. Nitrate of soda only is to be with-
held for a while and for application later on.

To put the finishing touches on the land, I inva-
riably use the Meeker smoothing harrow (Fig 16).
In fact, I would hardly know how to get along without
it. This makes the surface about as even as could be
done by hand raking, and in one-tenth or one-twentieth
the work or time required for the latter operation.
The Meeker harrow costs twenty dollars or more, but
it is a great labor saver, and almost indispensable in
the market or farm garden. The ordinary steel rake,
however, is, good enough for smaller patches. What-
ever tools you use, the surface should be as smooth as
a board, and the land is then ready for planting.

CHAPTER III

A Difficulty Easily Overcome

HOW THE PLANTS ARE SET IN THE GROUND

To transplant a few hundred onion plants is not a
formidable task, but when you set 120,000, covering an
acre, you have a big1 job on hand, and no mistake.
Indeed it is the work connected with my new onion
culture ; all the rest of it is easy — mere child's play, I
might say.

It takes about 120,000 plants to set an acre of
onions. I can get boys, that, with some practice, will
set 2000 to 3000 plants a day, and nimble-fingered per-
sons, used to garden work, will easily set 4000 or 5000.
The job of planting an acre is therefore equivalent to
probably not less than twenty-five days' work, and in
some cases this estimate may be considerably exceeded ;
but the amount of thirty dollars should certainly be
enough to pay for the whole job, when we pay boys
fifty cents, and more experienced persons one dollar or
one dollar and a quarter for a good day's work.

Transplanting so many onions may be a costly
operation, but it relieves us of much, if not all, hand
weeding, and entirely of the job of thinning. Old
onion growers know something about the tediousness
and costliness of these operations. The saving, in
these respects, more than pays for the labor of trans-
planting.

"How far apart shall I set the plants?" That is
the next thing the novice wants to know. I have for
years made the rows an even foot apart, and crowded

22 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

the plants as much as I dared to in the row, in the
attempt to secure the largest possible rate of yield.
My motto was: "No use wasting space and oppor-
tunity." But I got over that notion. I find that I can
give the patch better attention, more thorough and
continued after-culture, if I make the rows fourteen
inches apart, and set Gibraltars four inches, and Prize-
takers not less than three inches apart in the rows.
It is only when I plant onion seedlings to be pulled
up early for green or bunching onions (and they are
admirable for that purpose) that I crowd them to
two inches in the row.

Fig 17 — OLD STYLE GARDEN MARKER

For garden markers, we have almost up to this
time relied chiefly on homemade affairs, such as the
one shown in Fig 17. This has the one great disad-
vantage of compelling the operator to walk backward
or sideways. A set of handles might be attached at
the rear by which one person can do the steering while
another pulls it along horse-fashion. I now have dis-
carded this implement altogether.

For marking out the rows for onions in smaller
patches, up to one-eighth or even one-fourth acre,
I commonly use an Iron Age hand wheel hoe, fitting
it for that particular purpose by removing the side
hoes, and adjusting the single-tooth attachment shown
in Fig 1 8. With this I can make lighter or heavier
furrows, by bearing more or less heavily on the han-

MARKING THE ROWS 23

dies. It is especially useful for loosening up the soil
in the furrows when it has become somewhat hard or
packed. When simply marking1 out for setting the
plants, I take the regular marking attachment from
the drill, and put it on this tool. During the earlier
part of the season, or during the entire period of
setting onion plants, I keep one wheel-hoe fixed in
this manner right along, as then the time for using it
as a hoe has not yet arrived, and the marker is needed
about every day.

Gardeners who work with the Planet Jr combined
wheel-hoe and drill, may transform it into a three-

Fig l8 — SINGLE TOOTH

ATTACHMENT Fig IQ — THREE-TOOTH MARKER

tooth marker as suggested in Fig 19. If properly
made, it will give good service. I suggest still another
plan — simply an idea of my own. How would you
like a marker devised on the principle of the dress-
maker's tracing wheel ? I believe it can be pushed and
managed more easily than any other marker we have
yet mentioned. The little wheels may be turned from
hard wood. The construction is easy and so simple
that it will be unnecessary to give details. See Fig 20.
Straight and uniform rows add largely to the
attractiveness of the patch, even if they were not of
practical usefulness in facilitating the work of culti-
vating, and perhaps otherwise. Whatever marker we

24 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

use, therefore, we take the utmost pains to get the rows
perfectly straight. When we start in right once, the
rest is easy enough. Usually I get the first row in
straight line, if it is a rather long one, by setting
three stakes as a guide. We begin straight and try
to keep straight. It eases our conscience, and avoids
offense to the eye. I now mark only one way, leaving
it to the eye, to practice, and to good judgment, to
maintain the proper distance between the plants in
the row.

Fig 2O — TRACING WHEEL MARKER

How is the planting done? In the first place it
should be remembered that plant setting, like seed
sowing, is always done most easily and most con-
veniently when the ground is freshly prepared. We
can then set nearly or fully twice as many plants in
the same length of time, as a few days later after
the ground has again become hard or packed down
by rains.

If the ground is freshly prepared, and as loose
and mellow as we should expect it under the circum-
stances, I prefer to set the plants with the fingers
alone, and without the use of a dibber. It is a simple

SETTING THE PLANTS 25

and quick operation, too, and for myself, I could, if
I wanted to keep at it, easily set 6000 plants in ten
working hours. I take hold of the plant with the
lef hand, place it with the root end just a trifle to the
right of the place where I wish to have it planted,
and then with the thumb or index ringer of the right
hand press the bulb or lower end of the plant down
into the soft earth until it stands just where I want
'it. This is the work of a very few seconds, and all

Fig 21 — SETTING THE PLANTS WITH DIBBEH

I have to do afterward is to run the fingers over the
ground near the plant to fill up the hole left by the
manipulation, smoothing the surface.

My plan is to have a patch planted as quickly
as possible after the ground has been put in shape, and
it will usually pay well to get extra help to do it,
rather than string the work along by keeping only a
small force at it. If by any chance we have to quit
and let the soil become hard and packed, I always try
to refit it anew by harrowing and marking, before
going at the plant setting business once more.

If plants have to be set into hard soil, a small
dibber will be needed. This may be made of a piece

26

THE NEW ONION CULTURE

of seasoned hardwood, six inches long", one inch in
diameter at large end, and tapering to a point at the
other. The operation of setting the plants with the
dibber is made so plain by the accompanying illustra-
tion (Fig 21 ), that little explanation by words will
be needed. Open the hole with the dibber and insert
the plant an inch or so deep. Then strike the dibber
into the ground an inch .or so back of the plant, and,

V V

Fig 22 — OLD KITCHEN KNIFE AS DIBBER Fig 23 — DIBBER

using the lower end as a pivotal point, draw the
upper end toward you, thus pressing the soil firmly
against the underground part of the little plant. This,
of course, leaves another little opening a little back
of the plant. This may be closed, and the surface
somewhat smoothed by another light stab or so with
the dibber, or a simple manipulation of the fingers.

A broken kitchen knife ground to a point ( see Fig
22), or a little flat steel dibber with handle, such as
shown in Fig 23, and as may be made by any black-

SETTING THE PLANTS

smith at small cost, will always do good service. In
opening the hole have the flat side of knife or dibber
facing you. Then insert the plant back of the dibber,
withdraw the latter and strike in again back of the

Fig 24 — TRIMMING THE PLANTS

plant, pressing the soil against the roots in the same
manner as was done with the wooden dibber.

A good way of managing the whole operation is
as follows: Take up a lot of plants from the seed
bed, which may be done by running the point of a
small trowel under them, and lifting them out. Care-
fully separate and straighten them out, Next trim

28 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

off a part of the tops, if long and slender, and the
ends of the roots, as shown in Fig 24. The work of
setting out the plants is more conveniently done, and
will proceed much faster when the plants are short
and stiff than when they are left encumbered with an
excess of flimsy growth at each end. Besides, the
untrimmed plants are liable to bend or fall over, and
be in the way of the wheel-hoe and in danger of being
torn out; while the trimmed plants stand up straight

f

Fig 25— WRONG WAY Fig 26— RIGHT WAY

and stiff from the very start, and allow the use of
the wheel-hoe immediately after they are set out.

In short, I believe in shortening the plants at
both ends very thoroughly. It will do no harm, and
may do some good to trim the roots away to within
almost a half inch of the bulb or stem. With long
roots left on, some of the boys are bound to set the
plants in the manner shown in Fig 25, while the plants
with short roots are more likely to be properly planted
as shown in Fig 26. The new roots start out directly
from the end of the stem, and the plants with closely
trimmed roots will usually take hold of the ground
more promptly than those with all roots left on.

SETTING THE PLANTS

When the plants are thus prepared for setting and
bunched off, let a boy take a basketful of them and
drop them in bunches just ahead of the planters. Of
course, the work should be begun just as soon as the
ground can be got in proper shape. The soil must
be moist and crumbly, but not wet or sticky. Begin

Fig 27 — PLANT SET RIGHT DEPTH

with the plants that were started first, or are largest,
and carry the job to completion as speedily as possible.
The question is often asked how deep onion plants
should be set. An onion plant will live and make a
bulb whether you set it a half inch or three inches
deep. But we want the bulb to grow pretty well out
of the ground. This seems to be the nature of the
onion plant. In order to show this in a theoretical

30 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

way I have drawn the illustrations which picture the
objects in reduced size. Fig 27 shows the plant set
one inch deep, the roots reaching further down, and
before long probably finding their way clear down to
the subsoil. The bulb will spread out to full size as
indicated by the dotted lines. This brings it just

Fig 28 — PLANT SET TOO DEEP

where we want it, namely, two-thirds or more above
the surface of the ground, where it can be easily
worked and harvested. In Fig 28 the plant is shown
as being set one and one-half inches deep. If planted
in' a dry time, and in dry soil, the roots may find more
moisture and the plant revive more quickly after the
transfer, but the bulb is rather too far down in the

SETTING THE PLANTS 3!

ground. Altogether I believe that one inch in depth
is just about right.

Efforts have been made by a number of persons,
to my knowledge, to construct a machine which will
set onion plants expeditiously and in a perfect manner.
Thus far I have not seen the machine that will do
better and quicker work than a nimble-fingered, active
and willing youngster or man. And yet the possibility
of finding such a machine, after a while, is by no
means excluded. We will welcome it whenever it
makes its appearance.

CHAPTER IV
A Perseverance That Pays

TILLAGE AS MOISTURE PRESERVER AND WEED KILLER

Little needs be said to the expert gardener about
cultivation and its objects. He knows the importance
of keeping the soil well stirred among all garden crops
in general, and among onions in particular. "Tillage
is manure" is an old saying. In the present case, how-
ever, we care little about the manurial effect, for we
have provided plant food in great abundance. The
great benefit we expect from cultivation is the pres-
ervation of moisture, and incidentally, the destruction
of weeds. An inch or so of loose soil acts as a mulch,
and a most excellent one at that, which prevents the
rapid evaporation of the soil water. The moisture
rises through the compact soil, by means of capillary
action, until it reaches the stirred portion. Here its
progress is arrested, and the only way to reach the
surface, and escape in the air, is by evaporation, which
is greatly retarded by the loose layer of soil.

The chief tool required for the process of soil
stirring is a good hand wheel-hoe, such as the Iron
Age shown in Fig 29 or the Planet Jr, or any of a
number of others that you find on sale at seed and
supply stores. One of these tools you should and
must have. It is absolutely indispensable. I never
use the vine lifters even when using my Iron Age as
a row straddler. Somefimes I can do even more satis-
factory work with it, when I use it as a single wheel-
hoe and, reversing the hoes, go between the rows. You

TILLAGE 33

may try both ways and select the one that seems to
work best.

We begin running the wheel hoe over the onion
patch a few days after the plants are set out, and
repeat the operation just as soon as ;there is the least
sign of a crust over the surface. The aim is to keep
the mulch of loose soil on the ground all the time.
Running a wheel hoe in clean mellow soil is not heavy
work. The average boy will rather enjoy it. In real-

Fig 29 — IRON AGE HAND WHEEL HOE

ity it is probably the least tiresome work in the whole
business. An acre can be gone over by one person,
even a boy, inside of one day. Fig 30 represents a
youngster pushing the wheel-hoe in the onion field.

Usually we begin operations with the double
wheel-hoe, straddling the rows. As the season ad-
vances we change to the single wheel-hoe (Fig 31),
running it between the rows.

"Is no hand weeding to be done at all ?" you may
ask me.

bo

£

TILLAGE

35

That depends. If the soil is of weedy character,
or the patch is neglected for any length of time, we
may find considerable work — and disagreeable work —

Fig 31 — SINGLE WHEEL HOE

to do on hands and knees. With timely attention little
is needed, and that little can be done very effectively
by means of Lang's hand weeder, or of a kitchen

Fig 32 — LANG'S HAND WEEDER

knife, the blade of which is bent in the shape of a
curve, and sharpened on both sides. The way the
hand weeder is used is illustrated in Fig 32. There
are other styles of hand weeders in the market, and
almost any of them answer their purpose first rate.

36

THE NEW ONION CULTURE

A most excellent tool for taking out the weeds
in the rows from between the plants can be easily
made from an old worn-out hoe, leaving the lower
part (between the corners) only about two or two
and one-half inches wide, as shown in Fig 33. With
this sharp-cornered tool you can strike between the
plants, cutting out the weeds, and loosening the soil.
This manipulation and the free use of the wheel-hoe
will usually be all the cultivation needed. But the
hand which wields the sharpened hoe should be a
careful one, and be guided by a head possessing a

33 — HOMEMADE ONION HOE

fair degree of intelligence, otherwise the onion plants
may have to suffer.

Will it be feasible to substitute a mulch of fine
manure or other litter for cultivation and weeding?
I do not think so, unless it be on sandy soil and in a
very dry season. The plan works well in growing
celery. It may be tried, cautiously, for onions. In
a wet season it will increase the tendency of the plants
to make scallions. I have, however, had reports from
several intelligent growers who told me that they had
used a mulch in the onion patch with excellent results
in a dry season.

A continuous supply of moisture, furnished by
sufficient but not excessive rainfall, makes a large yield

IRRIGATION 37

reasonably certain. Whether irrigation can be made
to take the place of the natural water supply, is still
an unsolved problem, at least with us. An oversupply
at any time is liable to produce a large proportion
of scallions, and the bulbs will be of inferior quality
and prove poor keepers. Even in irrigation countries,
in no case is it advised to irrigate oftener than once
a week.

CHAPTER V

%

A Timely Pull and Haul

WHEN AND HOW TO HARVEST THE CROP

Now we come to an important point in our under-
taking. A little neglect in pulling and hauling may
result in great damage, if not ruin to the crop. I know
whereof I speak. When grown by the new method,
the onions mature several weeks earlier than they
would if grown in the old way. If the mature bulbs
are left in the ground, especially if ripened somewhat
prematurely by a dry spell in July and August, and a
long period of rain should follow, as sometimes hap-
pens, growth will be renewed; and we might just as
well try to make water run up hill as attempt to stop
an onion from growing when once started. Of course
this second growth ruins the bulb for the market,
unless for immediate use.

A lesson which I have learned by costly experi-
ence is, that the crop should be pulled just as soon
as the bulbs have reached maturity.

"How am I to know, when the onions are fit
for pulling?"

The tops fall over at maturity and begin to waste
away, the substance being gradually absorbed by the
bulbs. So, when the majority of the tops are dying
down, your time has come. Don't wait any longer,
especially if it is getting pretty well along in the season.

Some of the tops may yet be green and standing
up like soldiers, but it matters not. Pull the crop and
leave on the ground. The bulbs will absorb the sub-
stance of the tops, and the latter dry away.

HARVESTING THE CROP

39

Dry weather is very desirable as long as onions
lie' on the ground to cure. If rain comes, it is well
to rake them over carefully with a lawn rake or
wooden rake with dull teeth.

"How long should the onions be left on the ground
to cure?"

It may take a week or more of dry weather. At
any rate the best thing that can be done is to gather
the crop, even if only partially cured, and put it under

Fig 34 — ONION CURING SHED

shelter — in open sheds, lofts, on the barn floor — any-
where where dry and airy, afnd where the onions can
be spread thinly on a dry floor.

If necessary, work them over, which may be most
conveniently done by means of a wooden scoop or
shovel. Of course, the afternoon of a dry day is the
best time for gathering and hauling the onions, for
they should be perfectly dry on the outside, and no
dew or rain on them when put under shelter. In such
places they may be left until perfectly cured, i e,
until the tops have almost entirely dried away.

A shed suitable for the purpose of storing onions is
shown in Fig 34. The dimensions for such a shed

4O THE NEW ONION CULTURE

may, of course, be varied to suit the needs of the
grower. All the bins are made of slats, with spaces
between for free circulation of air. In rainy weather
the sides may be covered with canvas or adjustable
boards.

Of course, the spaces between the bins should be
large enough for convenience in manipulation. When
the onions are well cured, and gathered when perfectly
dry, there is, however, very little risk in storing them
in a layer several feet thick on a barn floor or loft,

Fig 35 — AN ONION CURING CRIB

where thoroughly protected from moisture. Handle
and sort them over for market as convenient, and
certainly before there is danger of their freezing.

Mr Henry Price, an extensive grower, has fur-
nished me description and plan of an onion curing
crib built by him recently. He says it is in reality
only a double corn crib. It is eighteen feet wide and
eighty long, with a ten-foot driveway in the center
the whole length. This leaves the width of crib on
each side four feet ; its hight eight feet. The building
is lathed all around, inside and outside, similar to a
corn crib, as shown in Fig 35. Of course, it can be
put up to suit the notions of the persons building it,

STORING THE CROP 4!

and quite cheaply, if desired. Ordinary rough posts,
cut in the woods, set into the ground three or four
feet deep, may serve as a framework. I think I
would divide the storage rooms on each side into
shelves, making at least four of them, each two feet
deep. The onions can then be stored twelve to eighteen
inches deep, leaving space enough for free airing and
drying between the layers. The loft may also be used
for curing onions, or for storing corn and for other
purposes.

If we could depend on dry weather right along,
we might easily dispense with a curing shed, lofts,
etc, as the bulbs will cure very well outdoors. In
a dry spell we can even leave the crop unharvested
for some time after it is ready for pulling. But this
is not a safe way. Many onions are lost, or much
deteriorated in value, by being left unharvested
too long.

Any ordinary corn crib, or a dry loft in the barn,
may be utilized for a place to store onions during
late summer and fall. Of course we don't expect to
winter them in any place where exposed to repeated
freezing and thawing Gibraltar s are not a good
keeper. Prizetakers when well matured and cured can
easily be kept until spring, and in some cases it may
be very profitable to do so.

J. G. Rawley of Michigan gives in American
Agriculturist the following description of his newly
erected onion storage house. (See Fig 36.)

"The storage house shown here is located on the
south side of a hill and faces south and east. It is
forty feet long by twenty-four wide, and has a stone
basement. The stone walls on either side are seven
and one-half feet high and two feet thick; wall at
west is twelve feet high, the one at the east end eight
feet. There are two stories above the basement. The

STORING THE CROP 43

•

floors are formed of boards three and one-half inches
wide by one and one-fourth inches thick,, with a half-
inch space between boards. The roof is made of
matched lumber, well put together, covered with several
thicknesses of building paper and shingled. The inte-
rior of the building is lathed and plastered and the
onions will stand zero weather without freezing.

"On the ground floor there is an alley into which
a wagon may be backed for convenience in loading.
The building is provided with a return steam heater,
so that it may be warmed in coldest weather. There
is also a forcing window on the south side, next to the
east end. The cost of storage house, steam heater
and 1000 crates for onions was $1000.

"When well cured I store my onions with tops on,
and they keep just as good as hay that is well cured.
They are not topped until cold. For convenience in
putting in the crop, there is a track on the west end
of building running from the ground to top floor. The
onions are carried up in a small car and dumped into
the bins below."

An additional word of warning will be in place.
Never leave onions, no matter how well cured they
may appear, in large heaps or in boxes, crates or
barrels longer than a few days at most before you
pick them over and remove the dead tops, roots and
other rubbish. When the onions are once thoroughly
cleaned and perfectly dry, they will keep well if stored
in slatted crates, or ventilated barrels, etc, otherwise
they will sweat, gather moisture, and begin to grow
again, or possibly become infected with rot. Neither
is it safe to store even clean and supposedly dry onions
in tight barrels or boxes for any length of time.

CHAPTER VI

The Fragrant Bulb on Sale

Now after harvest we will take an inventory of
the stock that we have in our possession ready for
turning into cash:

What do we have ?

First, a lot of Gibraltar onions — mammoth bulbs
weighing from three-fourths to two pounds apiece,
or fully up to the size of the imported Spanish onions
found in our stores ; a little lighter in color, but if
grown on sandy soil and well cured, just as perfect
and as handsome, and undoubtedly even milder in
flavor and finer grained than the imported, and less
subject to the rot which spoils a large percentage of
the imported bulbs, sometimes even before they come
into the hands of the groceryman. I will not deny,
however, that the Gibraltar is subject to the attacks
of a black fungus which apparently comes from the
outside, causing at first a discoloration on one side,
and finally ending in a softening of the tissues. This
rot may become a serious matter if we try to keep the
bulbs for any length of time, and I usually, in such
case, lose several per cent of my stock from this cause.
It is for this reason that I urgently advise growers
of Gibraltar onions to put the crop on the market as
early as possible after the bulbs are harvested.

While I, under my conditions, find it advisable to
clean up the Gibraltar crop by November or December,
I have reason to believe perfectly sound and well cured
bulbs of this variety may be kept much longer in good
condition if stored in a cool and perfectly dry place.

SELLING THE CROP

45

I find the demand for them, however, more brisk
earlier in the season.

Fig 37 — A BUNCH OF PRIZETAKER ONIONS

The Prizetaker onion is a much better keeper.
I want a portion of my onions to be of this sort, for
holding until the increased demand later in the winter
or toward spring. It is then, usually, when our

46 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

grocers ask five or more cents a pound for the imported
Spanish bulb. I can see no reason why we cannot
meet the demand for a sweet onion at this time, or
at any other, with our domestic bulbs, which are at
least as good in every way as, and possibly better in
some respects than, the foreign importation. If it is
only a foolish notion that got into the handlers or
consumers of sweet onions that makes them consider
the imported Spanish article superior to our own
production, it only remains for us to teach them better
things and the truth in the matter.

The stores in my own vicinity sell very few im-
ported Spanish bulbs after I begin to supply home
grown Gibraltars and Prizetakers to them and to
consumers. Whoever once buys and tries our own,
becomes at once a convert to the principle of patron-
izing the home trade, not for sentimental or patriotic
reasons, but for the sake of the better product and the
better bargain, and for the recognized superiority of
the home-grown bulbs. People who have proper onion
storage facilities will find no difficulty in keeping the
Prizetaker sound and perfect until spring, and in find-
ing quick sale for it at a good price. A few fine spec-
imens for home use may be kept for a long period in
perfect condition by being tied and hung up in a
frost-proof garret, as shown in Fig 37.

Years ago I hit upon the plan of crating up the
choicest bulbs in the same way as the imported article,
thus competing with the foreign product in our city
and town markets. This is now proving quite a profit-
able method of marketing the bulbs of the crop.
The crate shown in Fig 38 is similar to the one in
which the imported Spanish onions are put up. End
and middle pieces are seven inches wide and nineteen
and one-half inches long. The slats which form the
sides, as shown, are nineteen and one-half inches long

SELLING THE CROP

47

and two inches wide, and there are sixteen of them
required for each crate. The crates will cost about
ten to twelve cents apiece. Possibly, by substituting
split stuff, such as the orange growers use for their

Fig 38 — PRIZETAKER ONIONS CRATED FOR MARKET

orange boxes, instead of sawed slats, the cost per piece
could be reduced to below ten cents.

I often put bulbs in these crates that I would not
dare to ship in barrels. Sometimes we have large
fine bulbs that are imperfectly capped over, and there-
fore not fit for long keeping. It would not be safe or
good policy to put them up in bulk, and under ordinary

48 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

circumstances they would represent just so much waste,
or at best, we might be able to sell them as "seconds '
for a reduced price to somebody who would want
them for immediate culinary use. Such bulbs will
often answer very well for mixing1 with others in the
fancy crates, as they are usually sold and used without
much delay, and as dealers who ' handle imported
Spanish onions are used to just that kind of imperfect
bulbs, and to their deterioration and decay when kept
for some little time.

To give an idea of the size of these crated Prize-
takers, will state that the number of specimens con-
tained in each crate ranged from fifty to sixty, only in
rare cases reaching the latter figure. The large speci-
mens on the table in front of the crate weighed about
one and one-fourth pounds apiece. A foot rule ap-
pears lying across the two at the right to show their
diameter.

In the following I ^ give the experience of my
friend, J. S. Woodward, of Lockport, who has grown
Prizetakers quite extensively for a number of years.
The soil on which they were planted was a rich,
sandy muck, and his crops were immense. Like me,
he had crates made in imitation of the imported
Spanish onion packages, and of the dimensions already
given. A crate of this kind holds something, less than
a bushel of onions, between three and four pecks, or
nearly fifty pounds (the weight of a bushel of onions
in this state usually being taken as fifty-six pounds).
Mr Woodward would send a sample crate of Prize-
takers to some reliable commission house each in
Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, New York, etc, and
solicit orders for a carload. Thus he has shipped his
crops, in carload lots, to dealers offering him best
prices, and he has had no trouble in disposing of his
large bulbs in this way, receiving for them from

SELLING THE CROP 49

seventy-five cents to one dollar and thirty-five cents
per crate, or an average of close to $100, and thus
making the business pay him quite well.

There are chances everywhere of selling at least
a portion of the crop directly from the field. My
emphatic advice is to sell all that can be sold at a
fair price. Get rid of the onions, and pocket the
money. With the crops of Gibraltars and Prizetakers
that I usually raise, I can make more money from
them selling at sixty cents a bushel, than I possibly
could by growing Danvers, Yellow Globe or any other
on the old plan, selling them at one dollar a bushel.
It is surely no small job to take care of a crop such
as can be grown on a single acre. It's a big thing.
Never lose sight of that fact.

I imagine some people will wish to know how
onions can be most successfully wintered over. Under
some circumstances it may pay well to store and hold
them for spring sales. An onion storage house found
on the grounds of a grower in Michigan has already
been described in a preceding chapter. There is a
party over in Canada who grows quite a number of
acres of onions every year, and he invariably holds
them until spring, and makes money by so doing.
Of course, I was anxious to learn how he winters such
big crops, and made inquiry. He wrote me as follows :

"For the purpose of keeping onions during the
winter we have erected two large rooms in the end of
our barn, above ground. These rooms are almost
frost-proof in the coldest weather; are provided with
double windows at each end, and double doors at
entrance from driveway on barn floor. All the walls
have a dead air space. Building paper is tacked on
in the inside of each boarding that forms the hollow
space.

5O THE NEW ONION CULTURE

"Onions are not put into these rooms in bulk, but
in thousands of slatted bushel boxes. The windows
are kept constantly open, except in very cold weather.
The idea is to put in dry, well cured stock, and place
it in such a way that it may always be airing at
suitable times, and yet be secure against low degrees
of temperature."

Be sure to bear in mind the following general
hints: Never attempt to keep onions that are not
capped over perfectly, and not entirely dormant, both
at top and root part. If they are thus perfect, it
will not be a hard task to keep them over winter,
provided you have a dry, cool and airy room, where
you can keep them from freezing. Never store them
in a large bulk together. Onions will also keep quite
well when frozen. Store on the floor of some out-
building, say fifteen inches deep, and as far away
from the wall. When frozen cover with a two-foot
layer of hay ; but do not handle them.

CHAPTER VII
All's Well That Ends Well

ADVANTAGES AND PROFITS OF THE NEW WAY

That the new method of onion growing gives us
a great increase of crop, besides many other advantages
over the old way, is no longer a matter of doubt. The
great question now is, whether the new way is also1
the more profitable one, and if so, how profitable.

We have already seen that the transplanting
method calls for one and a half to two pounds of
seed per acre, while ordinarily not less' than six pounds
are sown. On the other hand, we have the additional
labor of growing plants in frames, which is more
than an offset for the saving of seed. The new
way requires the considerable and tedious labor of
transplanting, an operation which will cost at least
twenty-five dollars per acre. On the other hand, we
save so much hand labor in thinning and weeding
that one might well be considered an offset for
the other.

On the whole, we have come to the conclusion
that the expenses of the crop, up to the time of har-
vesting, are very near the same, whether we follow
the new or the old method. The chief advantages of
the new onion culture, therefore, are clear gain.
Among them we have :

i. Earlier ripening of the crop. With six weeks
to start in sowing, the crop will come to maturity
several weeks earlier than it would otherwise. This
gives a chance for marketing the earlier sorts much in

52 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

advance of competitors who adhere to the old onion
culture, as also in clearing the ground for a succeed-
ing crop, such as celery, turnips, fall spinach, etc,
while the season is made considerably longer for
the late Prizetaker, which otherwise has hardly time
at the extreme North to come to a full development.

2. A decided improvement of the bulbs in respect
to shape and uniformity.

3. Quicker sale and better price, in consequence
of the finer appearance of the bulbs.

4. A greatly increased yield, to the extent of
doubling that obtained by the ordinary method.

5. The elimination of all uncertainties from the
business. Even failure would mean what people now
call a "big' crop." Nothing short of hail and flood
could prevent a good profit in this new onion culture,
if managed with ordinary intelligence and care.

It requires particularly suitable or favorable con-
ditions, and a considerable amount of skill, to produce
a big crop of onions by the older method. Anybody of
good common sense, even if of little practical expe-
rience or unusual skill, who has a fairly good patch of
ground, can, if he wants to, grow a crop of Gibraltars
or Prizetakers of which he may be proud.

The following is a somewhat rough estimate of
the expenses and receipts on the basis of my own
experience and surrounding conditions. Supposing
that only 1000 bushels are grown per acre, we then
have the following :

EXPENSES OF CROP PER ACRE

Raising the plants $20.00

Rent of land, one acre 5.00

Manure 45«oo

Superphosphate, 400 pounds 2.40

Muriate of potash, 250 pounds 5.60

ADVANTAGES AND PROFITS 53

Nitrate of soda, 200 pounds $4-5o

Applying manure, etc 16.00

Plowing and harrowing 4.00

Marking 2.00

Seed 3.50

Transplanting 27.00

Cultivation and weeding 20.00

Pulling crop 5.00

Gathering, hauling, crating 40.00

Crates, etc , 100.00

Total -. $300.00

RECEIPTS

By 1000 bushels of onions at 75 cents $750.00

Less expenses as above 300.00

Net profit $450.00

This seems to me a perfectly safe estimate. In
some cases the grower may realize more than seventy-
five cents per bushel, and his profits will then be cor-
respondingly increased. In other cases he may have
to accept even a smaller price than given in this esti-
mate. But even if these fine bulbs should not bring
more than fifty cents a bushel, or $500 for the whole
crop, the profits will still be $200, after all expenses,
every bit of labor included, have been paid.

In a good onion season the crop should not be less
than 1000 bushels per acre, if properly managed. If
it exceeds this amount (and 1500 bushels per acre
is an easy possibility), this would add to the expense
in harvesting and marketing, and increase the total
expenses of the crop, but it would also increase the net
profits accordingly.

54 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

What other crop could be expected to give similar
results and with greater certainty? I am unable to
name a single one among ordinary farm or market
garden crops that holds out greater promises of satis-
factory results.

If the outcome comes near to meet the estimates
here given, the grower, after all his pains and expend-
iture in the venture, may well say, "All is well that
ends well."

CHAPTER VIII

The Old Onion Culture

"Our father's way
Was the good old way,
Brought home and land,
And cash to hand
We'll not despise the good old way."

Many of the details of onion growing told in the^
preceding pages apply both to the old system and'
the new. Some additional information concerning
what some young growers may consider "the good
old way," will undoubtedly be acceptable to many
readers. .

No matter under what system the crop is to be
grown, I would select manure and prepare the land
as advised in the second chapter. Low lands of
mucky character are used in many localities with
excellent, results. Yellow Globe Danvers and Early
Red are well suited for such soils. The crops are
often very large, but the individual bulbs , hardly as
firm as when grown on uplands.

Make the seed bed perfectly smooth with Meeker
harrow or steel rake. It is not necessary to mark out
the ground. For business operations, and by this I
mean for purposes more extensive than the production
of a mere home or family supply, a good seed drill is
indispensable. At the present time, the leading garden
drills are the Planet Jr and Iron Age. Fig 39 shows
the latter in operation. The one advantage of this
and similarly constructed drills is that you can keep

THE OLD ONION CULTURE 57

watch of the seed in the hopper, and also note how it is
deposited. Before sowing seed, it may be advisable to
test the machine, and its delivery of the seed. Place a
bed sheet or a row of sheets of paper on a barn floor ;
put some seed into the drill, set the drill as you think
it should be and sow along upon the sheet or papers.
Of course you want seeds deposited perhaps twice as
thickly in the row as you will want the plants to
stand. Some seeds will not grow, or the young plants
may die. It will be better to be compelled to thin the
plants a little than to have large spaces in the rows
without plants. Thinning is easier than rilling in with
plants, although both operations are only too often
neglected to the great injury of the crop or yield.

When sowing seed with the drill, I begin by
stretching a garden line along one side of the patch,
a few inches frcm where I want the first row. This
serves as a guide, and I take great pains to have this
row and all the following ones perfectly straight.
Sow as early in the spring as soil and season will
permit.

The opening marked for onion seed in the Planet
Jr drill lets the seed run out pretty freely, perhaps at
the rate of eight pounds to the acre, and when the soil
is in first rate order, and the seed fresh and good, as
this always should be, I usually let the seed run
through the next smaller opening, which sows five or
six pounds per acre.

The Iron Age drill, when the indicator is set to
point to the onion mark, sows from five to seven
pounds of onion seed per acre. I now make the rows
fourteen inches apart, and when sure of the freshness
"of the seed, try to sow about five pounds to the acre.
Consequently I usually set the indicator just a trifle
short of the onion mark, thus making the discharge
opening a little bit smaller. The small roller attached

58 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

to the seed drill firms the soil sufficiently to insure
prompt germination of the seed.

The weeds have to be watched much more closely
than in the new onion culture. The roller marks in-
dicate where the rows are, and the wheel-hoe may be
set agoing, carefully, at first, even before many of the
plants have broken ground. Then keep it agoing.

Next comes hand weeding, which should be begun
as soon as weeds can be seen. Scrape the soil away
from the rows. Never draw it up toward them.
Repeat as often as needed, at the second or third weed-
ing also pull up the plants that are in excess of a fair
stand. This I find much the better way. It makes
the crop more uniform, and therefore more valuable
and more satisfactory. Ordinary varieties should in
no case average more than one plant to the inch, where
they stand most crowded, and they should have more
space on very rich soil than on one not sufficiently
enriched. The after-treatment of crop, harvesting, etc,
is exactly the same as described for the new onion
culture.

For many years the Yellow Globe Danvers has
stood at the head of onion varieties to be grown for
market and for general purposes, in the old way. In
many instances I now find it outranked by the South-
port Yellow Globe. Both are excellent sorts, however,
unequaled, in fact, by any other. Prizetaker has given
almost as good crops, in some instances, although
later, when grown directly from seed, as when grown
by the new transplanting system. The Australian
Brown is liked by some growers for its earliness,
reliability for bottoming, and unexcelled keeping
quality. The claim is made for it that it can be kept
in good condition, sound and without sprouting, for
a whole year, that is, until bulbs of the succeeding
crop are fully matured. I have not been shiningly

THE OLD ONION CULTURE

59

successful in my attempts to grow this onion, either
from seed direct or by transplanting, for which I
blame my lack of skill and, possibly, of opportunity.

I have already stated my opinion of red onions.
I do not want. them. My markets almost reject them.

Fig 4<D — COMPARATIVE SIZE OF ROUND ONIONS

They are not particularly popular except for some
special purposes in special localities. As a standard
red market variety, Red Wethersfield has always stood
at the head. It is immensely productive and a good
keeper.

Extra Early Red is a very early deep red onion

60 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

of medium size. I believe we have both a flat and a
round strain of it. It is recommended especially for
the extreme North and Northwest, and for cold and
mucky soil.

Southport Red Globe is the exact counterpart of
Southport Yellow Globe, only of a rich deep red color,

Fig 41 — COMPARATIVE SIZE OF FLAT ONIONS

and, like the other, as handsome an onion as could
be imagined.

Of the white sorts, I only recognize one, namely,
the Southport White Globe, as a variety worthy of
consideration for general market purposes. It is, like
its yellow and red counterparts, a strikingly handsome
onion and a fairly good keeper; but it does not find
favor in our markets equal with the yellow onions.

The form and comparative size of round and flat
onions are shown in Fig 40 and Fig 41.

THE OLD ONION CULTURE 6l

Much of the ultimate outcome of every attempt
to grow a paying crop of onions depends on the quality
and freshness of the seed. Sometimes two-year-old
seed, when well kept, does very well. I have fre-
quently had it germinate promptly, and grow as
vigorously as fresh seed. In other cases it absolutely
refused to grow. So I always prefer to use strictly
fresh onion seed. If you will do as I do, namely, buy
your onion seed early, of a reliable seedsman, and test
it before you plant it, so that, should it fail to ger-
minate as it ought, you may be able to secure a fresh
supply before planting time, .you will be reasonably
safe from loss and disappointment on account of
poor seed.

ONIONS FOR PICKLING

This branch of the business can often be made
to pay well. At one time, not long ago, I was quite
enthusiastic over the possibilities of the pickling
onion as a money crop. But not having the right kind
of soil, which should be very clean and very sandy
(no other will do), I finally gave it up beyond the
extent of home production. There is usually a very
good demand, almost everywhere, for really fine bulbs
for pickling purposes, especially during August and
September. The sight of a well graded lot of Barletta
(also sent out as White Queen) onions will delight
and tempt any housewife. Neither will she be apt
to find fault with the price if you ask her ten or twelve
cents a quart for them. At wholesale they have
recently been bringing about two dollars or two dollars
and a half per bushel. On my heavier loam I find it
much easier to raise two dollars by setting out 250
or 300 Gibraltar or Prizetaker seedlings than by sow-
ing an eighth or a quarter pound of Barletta seed. But

62

THE NEW ONION CULTURE

you can try the Barletta if you have the right kind of
soil for it, especially a clean, clear sand.

The general management of the pickling crop is
the same as for market in the old way, only that
you must sow more seed, say from forty to fifty pounds
to the acre, and leave every plant to grow. The rows
may be put nearer together than for large onions.
Ten inches apart is sufficient, unless considerations for
convenience in cultivation induce you to put them

Fig 42 — HOMEMADE PICKLING ONION SIEVE

twelve inches apart. The seed, of course, is sown
with the garden drill. We have to be very careful
in this operation so as to use the proper amount of
seed, and yet prevent waste. Sometimes I sow only
half the amount of seed at a time, and go twice in the
same row, thus spreading the seed over a space of
nearly two inches for each row.

When ripe enough for gathering, here usually
early in August, the Barlettas need prompt attention,
just as soon as the most of the tops have fallen over,
the onions are pulled or taken up with a garden trowel,

THE OLD ONION CULTURE 63

and thrown into a sieve having about four meshes to
the inch, so that the dirt and sand may be sif teii out ; or
they may simply be left on the ground for a day or
two to cure, provided the weather remains dry. Then
gather them up, preferably on sieves such as used for
drying raspberries and other fruit, and store under
shelter where they have a good chance to dry out
thoroughly. Afterward they can be cleaned and
sorted. I use a sieve for cleaning pickling onions and

\

Fig 43 — ASSORTED BARLETTA ONIONS

onion sets. This is a simple homemade affair, shown
in Fig 42. The screen used has four meshes to the
inch. The mechanical genius of the family will have
little difficulty to construct a sieve or drum like mine
or similar to it. Put a moderate quantity of the little
onions into this drum, let them get quite dry, and then
turn until they are clean. They may then be sorted,
which is easily done by running through a coarse
meshed sieve (meshes to be about three- fourths inch),
and are then ready for use or sale. The usual sizes into
which they are assorted are shown in Fig 43.

Housewives often complain of the trouble they
have in cleaning small pickling onions. This is simply

64 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

because they do not know how to do the job properly.
Put the bulbs — tops, roots and all — in weak brine for
a day or so. Then there will be neither hard work nor
the shedding of tears over it.

GROWING ONION SETS

For growing sets the following hints will suffice :
Select Silverskin for white, Early Red for red, and
Yellow Dutch (or perhaps Yellow Danvers) for
yellow, and sow seed at the rate of forty to sixty
pounds to the acre. Handle in somewhat the same
.fashion as the pickling onions. All that will not pass
through a sieve with three-fourths-inch meshes are
too large for sets, and should go among the larger
pickling onions.

We have also found that the set grown from
Prizetaker seed will keep as well as any other onion
set known to us, and that it will make a remarkably
fine and sweet early green or bunching onion. For
wintering any onion sets, you must, of course, have a
room where you can keep them cool and dry, either
just above the freezing point, or if a little below freez-
ing, constantly low enough that they will not thaw
out until near planting time.

For green onions the sets are planted, in a mild
climate during the fall, here where the winters are
severe, in early spring, in rows a foot apart, in furrows
an inch or two deep, and an inch or two apart in
the row.

The earliest green or bunching onion is the
Egyptian Winter or Perennial Tree onion (Fig 44).
This is hardy as an oak, and in good soil will spread
like a weed, and yield immense quantities of a fairly
good green onion, especially if planted rather deep,
say three inches, so that the lower end of the stalk

BUNCHING ONIOTNS 65

or bulb becomes nicely blanched.' This is propagated
from top sets, the latter to be planted as soon as they
are mature, which is some time in August, this in a
spot where they can be left for years, to yield an
annually increased amount of green stalks for
bunching.

Another plan of growing bunching onions has
recently found consideration. This is to sow seed
of the hardy Barletta, and possibly White Portugal

Fig 44 — EGYPTIAN OR PERENNIAL TREE ONION

or Silverskin, in open ground during August, in same
way as for ordinary onions, only using more seed, and
leaving the onions out over winter, perhaps slightly
protected by a thin layer of coarse litter, to make
green bunching onions in early spring. I have had
fairly good success in first trials.

Fig 45 — ONION FIELD IN BLOOM

bo

68 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

GROWING ONION SEED

One of my neighbors who grows the Prizetaker
from sets for an early green onion, also grows not
only his own sets, but the seed which he sows for sets.
Any grower can do the same thing if he wishes. A
few additional hints may not come amiss.

First grow the large onions in same way as you
would grow them for market from seed sown in open
ground. Select perfectly sound, well-matured bulbs
of the shape and color desired in your ideal onion,
and store them in a dry, cool place where safe from
freezing, or at least from alternate freezing and thaw-
ing. In early spring select moderately rich soil, and
apply no more than a moderate dressing of compost
or chemical fertilizers. Fit this soil thoroughly for
planting, by plowing and harrowing, and then set
the onions in furrows, six inches deep and four to six
inches apart. The furrows may be made three or three
and a half feet apart. The seed is ripe when the seed
pods and the upper end of the seed stalk turn yellow,
and part of the pods burst open. Then cut the heads,
gathering them in any convenient receptacle to carry
to a dry loft where they are to be spread out thinly.
When thoroughly dry, they are to be thrashed and
cleaned by passing through a fanning mill. The final
cleaning is given by washing. The heavy plump seeds
sink to the bottom, when placed in a tub of water.
The chaff and light seeds float and are gently poured
off. Place in a muslin bag to drain off the water, then
spread out thinly in a warm dry place to dry.

Onion seed, for commercial purposes, is now
raised in California more extensively than in any
other part of the world, as the climatic conditions are
more favorable there than elsewhere. The long, dry
summers of California insure a perfect ripening of

GROWING ONION SEED 69

the crop, and there is no danger of rain spoiling the
seed. The moisture1 necessary for the roots the grower
can supply from his irrigation canals whenever re-
quired, thus practically making the climate to suit
himself. Most of the work can be done outdoors
which greatly facilitates the handling of the crop.
There is another factor which comes to the aid of the
California seed grower, and this is the availability of
cheap temporary labor. When work is pressing ho
can hire any number of Chinamen for a day or week
until his crop is in safety. Fig 45 gives an idea of
the large scale at which this industry is carried on,
showing a partial view of a thirty-seven-acre field of
onions for seed, at Santa Clara, the plants just coming
into bloom. Fig 46 presents a section of a field of
Prizetaker onions ready for harvesting.

CHAPTER IX

Soils and Manures for Onions

On the subject of the preparation of the soil for
onions, by previous cropping, the Farmers' Bulletin
No 39 says :

"Soils which are stiff and heavy, which contain
too much sand, which abound in pernicious weeds, or
are deficient in fertility, may be greatly improved by
the cultivation of one or more crops previous to plant-
ing onions. A favorite practice in some sections is to
sow clover, and after the first crop is cut for hay, the
second growth is allowed to rot on the field and with a
heavy dressing of stable manure is plowed under in
the fall. The following spring the ground is planted
in potatoes and the next year onions are grown. Such
a course of treatment leaves the soil in excellent con-
dition. The land is improved by the application of
manure and the decomposition of the clover roots and
tops, while the nitrogen supply is increased both by
means of the clover, which gathers this element from
the atmosphere, and by the manure. The effect of
such treatment is to enrich the soil, make it loose and
friable, and free it from many weed seeds. Crimson
clover could be used to advantage in states where this
legume thrives, since, when plowed under, it produces
the same effect as red clover.

"Cowpeas are used as a substitute for clover in
the South. The peas may be sown in July or August,
after a crop of early potatoes has been removed.
The dead tops are plowed under later in the fall, with
a liberal dressing of barnyard manure. If either cow-
peas or clover is used, and followed the next year by

SOILS AND MANURES 71

some hoed crop which does not impoverish the soil to
any considerable extent, the land is put in the best
condition for raising onions. Carrots are said to be
the most desirable crop to precede onions. Corn and
potatoes, however, are not objectionable. Of course,
more plant food should be applied than these crops
remove, so that the soil will be constantly improved."

All of this I heartily endorse. The subject of
selection and application of manures is treated as
follows :

"The onion requires a liberal amount of plant
food in the most available form. The quantity and
quality of manures which would make potatoes, cab-
bages, tomatoes, or many other garden crops profitable
will not give even a fair compensation in onion culture,
unless favored by soils highly fertile in their natural
state. Beginners fail more frequently perhaps from
lack of appreciation of this fact than from any other
cause. The most expensive item in onion culture is
labor. A prominent grower estimates that it costs
$100 per acre to start the seedlings, prepare the soil,
transplant, cultivate, weed, and pull the crop when
the new onion culture is adopted. The cost of labor
is just as great for a crop of 500 bushels as for 1000.
Hence it is judicious for the onion grower to be liberal
in the use of fertilizers. If the supply of fertilizer is
limited it will pay better to manure one acre thoroughly
than two sparingly.

"Barnyard manure is indispensable in the pro-
duction of superior bulbs unless the soil naturally
contains a large amount of humus. Muck soils may
be treated with concentrated commercial fertilizers
alone, but nothing can be entirely substituted for
barnyard manure on other soils with as satisfactory
results. Hen manure is very highly esteemed by onion
growers because of its high percentage of fertilizing

72 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

constituents. Next to this manure, that from the
pigsty is considered most valuable, although rotten
barnyard manure of any kind gives good results. It
is customary to deposit the manure in large piles where
it can undergo fermentation, or to compost it with
other materials. From forty to seventy-five loads per
acre should be applied if a large yield is expected.
It should be spread evenly over the surface just before
plowing in the fall or early spring, a manure spreader
being valuable for this purpose.

"Hen manure will produce the best results when
applied as a top-dressing before planting. Poultry
droppings should be dried and pulverized before broad-
casting. Specially prepared composts should also be
spread after plowing and thoroughly mixed with the
surface soil by harrowing. A common practice near
large cities is to secure night soil and compost it with
barnyard manure, muck or loam. This makes a val-
uable top-dressing. Care should be exercised that all
the manures used are free from weed seeds.

"We may learn something on the question of
fertilizing by studying the composition of the onion.
An analysis made by the Connecticut experiment
station of White Globe onions showed that 2000 pounds
of mature bulbs contain 2.70 pounds of nitrogen, 0.92
pound of phosphoric acid, and 2.09 pounds of potash.
The average legal weight per bushel in different parts
of the Union is about fifty-six pounds. A yield of
800 bushels per acre is frequently reported. A crop
of this size (44,800 pounds), therefore, would remove
from an acre of soil 60.48 pounds of nitrogen, 20.61
pounds of phosphoric acid, and 46.82 pounds of potash.

"This shows that the onion removes the three
essential fertilizing constituents from the soil in large
quantities, and these must be supplied to the soil if it
does not already contain them. Soils which have been

SOILS AND MANURES 73

freely cropped with clover, cowpeas, or other legumi-
nous plants are not likely to be deficient in nitrogen,
although light dressings of the quick-acting nitrate
of soda may often be profitable on such soils. Potash
and phosphoric acid, however, must usually be applied
more liberally. Sometimes one and sometimes the
other of the three principal fertilizing constituents —
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash — is deficient in
the soil. It is important for each grower to study the
special requirements of his soil. A few experiments
with concentrated fertilizers will settle many doubtful
points. It is impossible to supply the needed fertili-
zers in the proper proportions without first acquiring
a fair knowledge of the fertilizing constituents already
in the soil.

"Of the nitrogenous commercial fertilizers, nitrate
of *oda is the most largely used. It contains about
fifteen per cent of nitrogen. This salt is readily
soluble and exceedingly quick in its action. It should
never be applied in the fall or winter, because a large
amount of the nitrogen would be washed out of the
soil before the growing crop required it. From 200
to 400 pounds applied in four equal dressings is suffi-
cient in most cases. The first application should be
made just before seeding or planting and mixed with
the surface soil by harrowing. The other dressings
may be given at intervals during the growing season,
carefully broadcasting the salt. Ammonium sulphate,
dried blood and wool refuse, which are also nitroge-
nous fertilizers, are occasionally substituted for sodium
nitrate, and soot is sometimes used with advantage.

"To supply the potash, wood ashes are frequently
employed. They have the additional advantage of
improving the mechanical condition of the soil, making
it loose and friable. Either leached or unleached ashes
may be used with satisfactory results, the latter being

74 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

more valuable on account of their larger content of
potash — five to ten per cent. From six to eight tons
of unleached or ten to fourteen of leached ashes is a
liberal supply. Ashes should be drilled or harrowed
in after plowing. If ashes are not available, or if the
expense of transportation is excessive, the grower will
find potash salts, such as kainit and muriate of potash,
valuable fertilizers. They are applied in the fall,
winter or early spring. The soil will retain the potash
until the plants require it, so that the loss by drainage
is exceedingly small. Kainit contains thirteen to
fourteen per cent of potash, and the muriate about
fifty per cent. About 200 to 300 pounds per acre of
the muriate, or 800 to 1000 pounds of kainit, is a suf-
ficient application. They should be sown broadcast
after plowing, and harrowed in or distributed by means
of a fertilizer drill. A few hundred pounds of bone
meal or other phosphates will be beneficial, if phos-
phoric acid is needed.

"The manures applied are never completely taken
up by the growing crop. This makes it necessary to
supply more than is actually needed. In the case of
the potash and phosphoric acid, for which the soil has
a strong retentive power, the excess will remain to
benefit succeeding crops."

In a general way I may add that the selection
and application of plant foods, for the onion crop as
well as for all others, is largely a matter for the exer-
cise of uncommonly good common sense and good
judgment.

CHAPTER X

Onion Varieties

With reference to the methods of propagation,
onions may be divided into three classes : ( I ) Onions
produced by division of the bulb; (2) onions produced
from top sets or button onions, and (3) onions grown
from black seed. The last named may be separated
into two subdivisions, namely, American and foreign
types.

According to Professor Bailey's Annals of Horti-
culture, about twenty kinds of multipliers, potato
onions and sets were offered by American dealers
in 1889.

The leading variety of the first class (onions
produced by division of the bulb) is the Potato onion
or Multiplier, shown in Fig 47.

This is most largely grown in southern localities.
The yellow variety has been in cultivation for many
years, while the white sort is of much more recent
introduction. The bulbs are thick, compact, tender if
eaten soon after pulling, and very mild and sweet in
flavor. Fall planting is generally resorted to with
this variety, the sets being placed in drills four or
five inches deep. As the name "Multiplier" indicates,
if a large bulb is planted, division occurs during the
season of growth, resulting in the formation of from
three to ten or more bulbs from the parent. If sets
are planted, they will make single large onions, but not
multiply. The plants begin active growth very early
in the spring and may be bunched and marketed at a
good profit, or may be allowed to mature. In the

76 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

milder sections of the South the Potato onion will
grow during the entire winter. The mature bulbs
should be stored in thin layers in a dry apartment to
insure their keeping. This variety is rarely, if ever,
affected by the onion maggot. From the fact that the
small bulbs increase in size and the large ones multi-
ply, it is necessary to plant both sizes in order to secure
onions for market and also maintain the stock.

Shallots are frequently mistaken for the Potato
onion. They differ from it in throwing up an occa-
sional seed shoot and in the bulb always multiplying,

Fig 47 — POTATO ONION OR MULTIPLIER

which is" not true with small Potato onions. The bulbs
are more oblong in shape than the Potato onion.
Shallots are small, may be kept the year round, and
possess a mild, pleasant flavor.

TOP ONIONS

To this class of onions, produced from top sets,
as shown in Fig 44, properly belongs the

Egyptian (Winter Onion, Perennial, or Tree
Onion) — An unusually hardy variety in the colder
states, remaining in the ground with safety all winter.
It starts early in the spring and may be bunched and
marketed several weeks before any other variety.
The quality is inferior, but the bulbs may be readily

VARIETIES 77

sold when better varieties are wanting. The bulblets
or top sets of this should be planted as soon as they are
fully matured, which is during August. This onion
also grows from division of the bulb. If planted
somewhat deep in rich, loose soil, the stalk blanches
in the manner of leeks as usually grown by good
gardeners and makes a green onion of fairly good
quality.

The common Top Set or Button onions are usually
grown for green bunching by planting the bulblets
in spring (at the North) in same manner as the
ordinary sets that were grown from the black seed
are planted.

Of the common or "seed" onions, about eighty
varieties, including synonyms, are offered by Amer-
ican seedsmen. I give a description of the leading
ones, largely quoted from Farmers' Bulletin No 39 :

AMERICAN VARIETIES

Danvers (Danvers Yellow, Round Yellow Dan-
vers, Yellow Globe Danvers) — The most largely
grown of the yellow onions, being produced in im-
mense quantities for shipping purposes. It is very
productive, giving much larger yields than varieties
which form flat bulbs. Four hundred to 600 bushels
per acre from seed sown in the field is a very common
yield, while 800 to 1000 bushels are sometimes har-
vested. The bulbs are very solid, large when given
the proper attention, compact, and of excellent flavor.
This vaiiety commands higher prices than red onions
in most markets.

Extra Early Red — On account of its earliness
in maturing, this variety is valuable in many sections.
The bulbs are rather small, flat in shape, and good
keepers. It is especially well adapted to cold, mucky
soils, and is largely used in the production of sets.

7o THE NEW ONION CULTURE

Silver Skin (White Portugal, Philadelphia
White) — A variety largely used in the production
of the white sets sold by seedsmen. The bulbs are
handsome, medium sized, and of excellent flavor. It
commands higher prices than the red or yellow sorts,
but is not so productive nor so easily wintered unless
thoroughly cured. The smaller bulbs are popular
for pickling.

Fig 48 — LARGE RED WETHERSFIELD

Wethersfield (Wethersfield Red, Large Red
Wethersfield) — The most extensively grown red sort.
It rivals the Yellow Danvers in many portions of the
country. Some markets prefer it to that variety.
The bulbs are large, growing six to eight inches
in diameter in especially favorable localities. It is
very productive and a good keeper. The bulbs are
somewhat flattened in form ; in this respect being
inferior to the Yellow Danvers. The skin is deep

VARIETIES 79

purplish-red, the flesh purplish-white, rather coarse and
of stronger flavor than that of the yellow onions. A
typical specimen, much reduced in size, is shown in
Fig 48.

White Globe (Southport White Globe)— The
perfect globe shape and smooth white skin make this
one of the handsomest onions. It always commands
good prices, but requires more care in cultivating,
harvesting and storing than the red and yellow sorts.
The flesh is fine in grain, pure white, and of superior
flavor. The bulbs are large and yield well when given
careful attention. This sort should be grown in every
family garden in preference to any other large white
American onion.

Yellow Strasburg (Yellow Dutch) — A productive
variety, the bulbs being slightly darker in color than
Yellow Danvers ; of good size ; quite flat, with a white
and mild flesh. Yellow Danvers is preferred to the
Strasburg by most growers.

Red Globe and Yellow Globe (Southport) — These
varieties closely resemble the White Globe, except
in color.

Australian Brown — Of medium size, good qual-
ity; early; somewhat flattened in shape, of brown color
and remarkably hard and solid. It begins to form a
bulb at an early period of growth, and quickly reaches
maturity. For keeping qualities it is perhaps unsur-
passed.

Gold Seal — An early variety, rich in color, much
like the Danvers, but perhaps larger, harder and a
better keeper.

Early Yellow Cracker (Extra Early Cracker,
Rhode Island Yellow Cracker) — The earliest of the
yellow sorts ; of good quality, but should be carefully
handled to insure its keeping qualities.

So THE NEW ONION CULTURE

Giant Zittau — A very large German onion of fine
quality. Surpassed here by our standard varieties, and
for size by Prizetaker and many of the foreign sorts.

Prizetaker — I am tempted to include this in the
list of American onions, although its origin is undis-
putably foreign. But seed of this famous onion has
been grown in America for many years, and the onion
now holds a secure place among our standard sorts.
Its name is inseparably interwoven with the "new
onion culture." Its introducer, Mr William Henry
Maule of Philadelphia, gives me the following data
about its history. He says :

"I discovered the Prizetaker in the hands of a
gentleman residing in the Santa Clara valley, Califor-
nia, whom I happened to be visiting in the summer
of 1886. I was so impressed with it that I persuaded
him to plant all the bulbs he raised for seed, and agreed
to take all he had. It was first offered in my 1888
catalog, and since then has been one of my leading
specialties. It was some years before it became gen-
erally known, but finally, largely through the adver-
tising which you yourself gave it, its merits became
recognized, and to-day it is prominently listed in all
the leading American seed catalogs."

This variety is a favorite with all growers who
follow the transplanting method. It gives more
general satisfaction than any other variety in the pro-
duction of bulbs from seed sown- under glass, the
young plants being transferred to the open ground.
American grown seed is greatly preferred. The
Prizetaker is uniform and globular in form, and very
large, some specimens weighing from four to six
pounds having been grown in this country under
special cultivation, while from one to three pounds
are very common weights. It ripens well, and, if
properly cured, may be kept through the winter,

VARIETIES 8l

although it is considered a poor keeper. The bulbs
are bright yellow, with a thin skin. The flesh is
white, fine grained, mild, with a delicate flavor. A
bunch of typical Prizetakers is shown in Fig 37.

Pink Prizctaker — Similar to the Yellow Prize-
taker in every respect except color, which is light red.

Prizewinner — A white Prizetaker.

FOREIGN VARIETIES

B arietta (Adriatic Barletta)— The bulbs of this
variety are pure white, measuring- from one inch to
one and one-half inches in diameter, and about three-
fourths of an inch in thickness. It is very early; the
bulbs are smooth, uniform, and handsome in appear-
ance, which makes them especially valuable for pick-
ling. For this purpose no other variety is better
adapted. The flesh possesses a mild, delicate flavor.
To secure the best results the seed should be sown in
loose, rich, friable soil. Seed is furnished by many
seed houses also under the name "New Queen," "Early
White Queen," "Pearl," etc. As I remember the New
Queen from the time of its first introduction, twenty-
five or more years ago, it seemed larger and somewhat
later than Barletta. The probabilities are that Bar-
letta and New Queen, in the establishments of many
seed dealers, come from the same seed bag.

Bermuda (Red Mammoth Tripoli, Bermuda
Red) — The bulbs of this variety are large, fine
grained, and of excellent flavor. The skin is thin and
rich, and of a blood-red color. The flesh is white.
It is largely imported into- this country.

Early Pearl (Silver White Aetna, American
Pearl) — An Italian variety which matures very early.
The round, flattened bulbs are pure white, amd possess
a mild, pleasant flavor. It is excellent for sets or

82 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

pickling-, and is highly esteemed by some market
gardeners.

Giant Rocca (Rocca of Naples) — This is a very
large onion that is well adapted to the transplanting
method of culture in the South. It requires a long
season to mature the bulbs. Its flavor is mild and
very pleasant. The bulbs are globular in shape, with
a light, reddish-brown skin. It is very productive
when transplanted or where the season is of suffi-
cient duration.

. Giant Red Rocca — This variety differs very
slightly from the preceding, except that it is darker
in color.

Giant White Rocca (Silver Ball)— One of the
most valuable sorts of the Italian type. The bulbs
are very large, white, globular, compact, and the flesh
is white, with a mild, pleasant flavor. An excellent
variety for either home consumption or market when
the transplanting method is adopted.

Giant Yellow Rocca (Spanish King) — Resembles
the Giant Red in every particular except color, which
is a bright yellow. This variety may be transplanted
with very satisfactory results.

Mammoth Pompeii — This is one of the largest of
the foreign varieties, bulbs weighing over four pounds
having been grown in this country. It does not appear
to lose in quality when grown to such an enormous
size. Ft should be grown by the transplanting
method. The bulbs are red, with thin skins. The
flavor, as is usual with the foreign sorts, is very
mild and pleasant.

Marzajola (Italian May) — A small, early, flat
onion. The bulbs are white and of superior quality.

New Queen (Pearl, Early White Queen) — This
variety is quite generally known irr the South as the
Pearl onion, but "New Queen" is the preferable name.

VARIETIES 83

It is one of the most valuable sorts for growing
pickling onions from seed, although the Barletta is
considered superior by many gardeners. The bulbs
are pure white aird can scarcely be excelled in flavor.
Seeds may be sown in February where the season
is sufficiently early, and mature bulbs will be pro-
duced by June. If sown in July or August another
crop will be ready to harvest late in fall. The onions
measure from one to two inches in diameter and
generally command high prices. See also "Barletta."

Fig 49 — WHITE TRIPOLI ONION

Red Victoria — A large, handsome globular-
shaped onion. Skin very dark red; flesh white or
very light rose-colored ; mild, pleasant. A heavy, rich
loam is best adapted to this variety.

Mammoth White Garganus or Silver King
(Mammoth Silver King) — A very large, white Italian
variety. Bulbs are flattened ; flesh white, with a mild,
sweet flavor.

White Italian Tripoli (El Paso, Large Mexican)
— The Texas experiment station reports that out of

84

THE NEW ONION CULTURE

fifty-eight varieties grown in 1895 from seeds sown
in the open ground this variety gave the largest yield.
It is very large size, flat in form, with a white skin,
as shown in Fig 49.

White Victoria — The White Victoria is consid-
ered the most valuable of the White Italian onions for
transplanting. The bulbs are very large, globular

Fig 50— BEAULIEU'S HARDY WHITE ONION

and handsome. Wherever tested it is most highly
esteemed. It produces heavy crops when the proper
treatment is given.

Giant Gibraltar — Introduced by W. Atlee
Burpee & Co of Philadelphia about 1898. It is a

VARIETIES 85

larger onion than even Prizetaker, and still milder
in flavor. Its season of ripening is a week or two
later. It has a light straw colored skin, white crisp
flesh, and is perhaps the most satisfactory onion to
be grown by the new transplanting method, where
appearance and large yield are first considerations.
It is particularly subject to fungous diseases4, and not to
be recommended as a keeper. Mr Burpee writes me
as follows in respect to the origin of this splendid
onion :

"We can give you very little information regard-
ing the origin of the Gibraltar. All we know is that
it originated in Spain. There having been on the
market, when introduced, so many of the varieties
of the Spanish type of onion seed, such as Yellow
Spanish, White Spanish, Spanish King, etc, we de-
cided that the name 'Gibraltar' would prevent its
being confused with previously introduced or inferior
varieties. We have many growers in the South that
are growing the Gibraltar."

Hardy White Onion (Beaulieu's), Fig 50 — I am
a little in doubt about its true origin, and whether it
belongs under the American or foreign onions. The
introducer, Mr Henri Beaulieu of Woodhaven, Long
Island, claims that it is a strain or cross of the White
Portugal. From a single trial (1901-1902) it seemed
to me to be of the Barletta or New Queen type.
Grown from seed in open ground (sowed in August,
1901), it stood the severe winter without protection
unharmed and gave an early crop of fine bunching
onions. From H, W. Camden, Long Island, I have the
following report: "We sow Beaulieu's Hardy White
onion seed during the month of August. Plants of
early sowings can be transplanted or remain in the
seed bed ready for bunching to come in between winter
onions (scallions) and onions from sets. If left to

86 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

ripen they will get as big around as a silver dollar.
We bunch all for New York market. In 1901 we
sowed two other varieties with them on same day and
on same ground. All came up well. The Hardy White
stood the winter well. The others died off. This
year we have three other sorts side by side with the
Hardy White. The seed seems to be rather delicate
of germination. This is the third or fourth year we
sowed this Hardy White onion. This season we have
sowed twenty-five or thirty pounds. They are a good
flavored, nice bunching onion."

CHAPTER XI

Insects and Diseases Affecting the Onion Crop

The Onion Maggot (Anthomyia ccparuin) — The
following is taken from the Connecticut experiment
station reports :

"The adult insect, a small two-winged fly, de-
posits its eggs on the lower portion of the young
onion plants during the months of April and May.
In about a week the eggs give rise to small, whitish
grubs or maggots which eat their way into the bulbs,
upon which they feed for about two weeks. They
then leave the bulb, enter the ground, and change to
the pupa condition, from which, in course of time,
the adult flies emerge. Occasionally the maggots
remain in the bulb and the brown pupae are found
in the stored onions. Several broods are produced
during the summer. The various stages of develop-
ment of the insects are shown in Fig 51.

"Various methods of destroying this pest have
been recommended. Ormerod (in A Text Book of
Agricultural Entomology) suggests rotation with
some other crop in order that the flies emerging from
the pupae which remain in the soil may not find onion
plants at hand upon which to deposit their eggs ;
earthing the young plants well up above the collar so
that the flies are prevented from reaching the bulb;
pulling and destroying the plants first affected, by
which means the migration of the maggots to sound
bulbs is checked ; the avoidance as far as possible of
natural manures, in which the larvae of these insects
live; or finally the application of lime to the land."
E. O. Orpet (in Garden and Forest) recommends the

88 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

following method, which is well worth a trial : "Half
a pint of kerosene is well mixed with a pailful of
some dry material, preferably wood ashes, but sand,
sawdust, or even dry soil will do fairly well; after
the plants are well up and the trouble is at hand, a
sprinkling of this mixture along the rows about twice
a week during the time the fly does its work will be
found a sure prevention of the trouble. After the
end of May there is little danger, as the onions are of
a good size and not so liable to injury."

Fig 51 — THE ONION MAGGOT (ENLARGED)

i, affected onion; 2, the maggot at work; 3, the full-grown larva; 4, the
cocoon ; 5, the adult onion fly

I invariably plant radishes, and often cauliflowers
and cabbages, in immediate vicinity of the onion patch,
or perhaps a few rows here and there right in it.
The radishes, cauliflowers, etc, appear to act as
"catch" plants. At least they are usually more
or less affected by maggots, while the onions are
seldom attacked. I have reason to believe that strong
lime water made from freshly burnt lime will kill
all the maggots with which it comes in contact. To
apply it, soak the ground around the plants so thor-

INSECTS AND DISEASES 89

oughly that the application will reach the worm
feeding at the root stalk or bulb.

When the plants are in a hotbed, maggots can be
destroyed by inserting bisulphid of carbon into the
soil. Professor Bailey recommends to puddle the
plants when transplanting in a puddle to which sulphur
has been added, and sprinkle sulphur about the plants
after they are set. Of course all infested plants should
be pulled up and burned at once.

The Onion Thrip (Thrips tabaci) — Onion grow-
ers sometimes find their onions affected in a manner
that they are undecided whether to lay the blame on
insects or disease. When a plant appears as shown
in Fig 52, most people will say that it has been struck
by blight. The truth is, however, that the enemy is
a small insect or midge. The illustration, taken from
a bulletin of the Ohio station, shows a plant that is
very seriously affected, and totally crippled, by thrips.
The effects of the attacks appear as a white blast,
and may be easily mistaken for a diseased condition.
We may not have much to fear from this enemy in
a wet season. It is the dry season which is liable to
bring us the attacks of thrips. The Florida agricul-
tural experiment station reports that the insect was
first noticed there about the middle of April in 1897,
infesting onions at the station gardens, and that the
insects were destructive until about July I, when they
gradually disappeared. I quote as follows from
Bulletin 46 :

"In 1898, the insect was observed April 28, to be
quite abundant on onions in the horticultural depart-
ment, and some days later, Professor Rolfs called
my attention to its occurrence on cabbage and cauli-
flower. To these plants it proved quite destructive
during May, and the first two weeks of June. By
the last of June, the insects were becoming very

90 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

scarce, and by July 15, none were to be found. Begin-
ning with July, considerable rain had fallen, which
may have hastened their disappearance.

"This species is injurious to the foliage of plants.
On the onions, it chafes off the epidermis from the

Fig 52 — PLANT ATTACKED BY THRIPS

green leaves, thereby causing them to dry out, whiten
and frequently die. On the cabbage and cauliflower
their effects are about the same. They are much more
abundant on the lower surface of the leaves, where
they chafe off the leaf substance, much as in their
attack on onions.

"According to Mr Th. Pergande, assistant ento-
mologist, United States department of agriculture, the

INSECTS AND DISEASES pi

onion thrip occurs in the following- localities:
Russia, Germany, Bermuda, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois,
Colorado and California. To these should now be
added Florida. It is doubtless of European origin,
and has been brought over in some shipment of onions
or cabbage. The insect was first made known to
science by Dr Londeman of Moscow, who found it
very destructive to tobacco in southern Russia.

"The egg of this species is almost colorless, .elon-
gate, and curved. The egg state lasts from three and
a half to four days. Upon hatching, the larvae are
quite agile, running about readily if disturbed. They
are almost transparent in color but become gradually
of a greenish-yellow color, the greenish tint due doubt-
less to the contained food. These larvae are somewhat
gregarious in their habits, and may be \seen feeding
together in groups. They use the spines on the end
of the abdomen to drive away intruders, by striking
right and left. In almost all cases it has the desired
effect, and the victim seems glad to get away. The
larval stage lasts from seven to nine days. The
nymph stage lasts for four days, the insect remaining
almost in the same tracks throughout the period, if
left undisturbed. No food is taken.

"The third and last molt of the insect is from the
nymph to the adult condition. A newly developed
adult is quite light in color, and does not acquire the
normal color for twelve to fifteen hours. The length
of life of an adult was not satisfactorily determined.
Specimens were kept, however, for nearly three days,
when they met with an accident. From the above it
wiirbe seen that the total life cycle of the insect in
Florida is approximately sixteen days. ... In
Florida there are probably no distinct broods, as all
stages may be found at the same time. Allowing for

£2 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

the life cycle at sixteen days, a large number of broods
could occur during the year, but unfavorable conditions
keep them reduced except during the spring and
perhaps early summer, so that it will probably not
happen that they will develop throughout a year,
according to their capabilities.

"Several insecticides were tried against this insect.
They may be successfully controlled by the use of
whale oil soap (Anchor brand), at the rate of one
pound of soap to four gallons of water ; or by the
use of rose leaf insecticide, at the rate of one pint
to four gallons of water. The use of kerosene emul-
sion will also be found effective.

"In spraying against the insect, it should be done
thoroughly ; the soil around the plant should also be
sprayed as well as the stems of cabbages and cauli-
flowers, thus destroying the pupae that may be in
hiding."

Onion Cutworms — The onion growers of some
parts of New York state and other onion growing
districts throughout the northern half of the United
States, have occasionally suffered severe losses by the
depredations of one of the cutworms, the dark-sided
cutworm (Carneades messoria), known also under the
names onion cutworm, climbing rustic and reaping
rustic. This climbing cutworm does not confine its
work to the onion field, but also attacks other garden
plants, as well as flower buds upon trees and shrubs.
The worm itself, while young and small, climbs up
on the plants in search for the tenderest parts, and in
that stage only takes the tips of the onions. When
older, the worms become too clumsy to climb and
content themselves with eating off the plants 'at the
surface of the ground. They usually feed at night,
but may, when food is scarce, march from plant to
plant by day, as does the army worm, traveling slowly

INSECTS AND DISEASES 93

and leaving behind them only the stubs and roots.
None of my onion patches have ever suffered from
the depredations of cutworms. In fact, clean culture
and an intensive system of gardening which calls for
continued cropping, following one crop closely with
another to the very end of the season, have banished
cutworms, grubs and wireworms almost entirely from
my fields.

To Bulletin No 120 of the New York state
experiment station, Geneva, I am indebted for the
following life history of the onion cutworm: "It is
probable that, on the onion fields at least, the eggs are
mostly laid in the late fall upon the weeds and other
debris remaining upon uncultivated spots in the fields,
along ditch borders and fences, or on adjoining high-
lands. From these highlands the weeds and eggs are
borne upon the fields by the high waters of early
spring and furnish starting points for the spread of
the young worms. These also advance from the bor-
ders of the field and from the ditch banks. Some of
the eggs may hatch in the fall, and the young worms
feed for a time before going into winter quarters in
the ground, and some of the moths probably remain
alive though dormant during the winter and resume
egg laying in the spring. The small size of the
worms, however, when they are first seen feeding
in the spring, and their occurrence in such numbers
on the gray soils which receive so much of the wash
of "the uplands and in scattered spots in the fields
where the water-borne debris is found, would seem
to indicate that they reach these places in the egg
form upon the weeds, hatch early in the spring, and
spread soon to the onions. They begin to feed early
in May, and when first noticed (May 12) they were
from one-tenth to one-half grown, and were from
one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in length. They

94 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

eat ravenously and continue to grow until they finish
feeding, sometime before the middle of June. They
are then about an inch and a quarter in length, and
are marked upon the sides by a decided dark band or
stripe. They now burrow into the ground a short
distance and form small cavities in which they change,
first to dark brown chrysalids, and then into moths.
The moths may emerge at any time between the
last of July and October, and they soon begin to lay
their eggs."

The following treatment is recommended for
severe visitations of this enemy. Mix thirty pounds
of dry bran and middlings in equal parts, with one
pound of Paris green. "This mixture can be dis-
tributed by means of an onion seed drill, and thus
deposited evenly and continuously about the margins
of the fields before the advancing destroyers. It forms
a line of defense across which the worms will seldom
pass without feasting to their death. If the worms
become scattered over the fields, the dry bait can be
applied quickly and uniformly alongside the rows by
use of the drill.

"This treatment is fully as efficient as hand pick-
ing, is less expensive, and is, for onions, at least, a
very satisfactory defense against the cutworms. It
can also be used successfully and with ease to protect
cabbages, tomatoes, egg plants, sweet potatoes, straw-
berries and similar garden plants, by surrounding each,
at time of transplanting, with a little of the poisoned
mixture.

"If the onion grower will have ready for the cut-
worms when they first appear upon the grass about
his fields a meal of the tempting but deadly, poisoned
dry. bait, and will offer this food to them whenever
and wherever they appear among the onions, his loss
from their ravages will be but small."

INSECTS AND DISEASES 95

White grubs (larvae of the May beetle) and
wireworms (larvae of snapping bugs) are sometimes
found feeding at the onion roots. It may be possible
to drive away the grubs by applications of caustic
liquids, such as lime water, saturated solutions of
kainit, or of muriate of potash; although I am not
sure on this point. The wireworm is too tough,
however, to be affected by such means. The best way
of fighting these troublesome customers is to plow
and thoroughly pulverize our fields in autumn, or any
time after latter part of July.

The Smut of Onions (Urocystis Apulae Frost) —
A very serious disease of the onion plant, but from
which the onions grown on the new plan of growing
and transplanting seedlings have little to fear, is the
rust, smut or blight. This disease has recently played
havoc in several of our great onion districts, especially
where onions have been grown in succession for a
number of years. The spores seem to remain in the
soil, reappearing after a long series of years when
onions are again grown. Smut attacks the onion at
the time the seed germinates and then only. Its ap-
pearance shows itself in black streaks on the stems;
afterward the stem bursts, and the black powder is
seen more plainly. The onion never develops, but
rots. Pull up and destroy the diseased plants, and
another year plant on new soil. That is about all that
I could suggest as a preventive or remedy for smut.

The following excerpt is from the annual report
of the Connecticut agricultural experiment station :

General Characters — The presence of smut in
onions is first indicated by one or several dark spots
at different hights in the leaves of seedlings, which are
seen to be more or less opaque when the plant is held
up to the light. These dark appearances may be seen
in the first leaf, before the second leaf has begun to

96 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

develop at all, and are more commonly found just
below the "knee" ; though they sometimes occur above
it. After a time, usually while the second leaf is
developing, longitudinal cracks begin to appear on one
side of these spots, which widen and show within a
dry, fibrous mass, covered with a black, sooty powder
made up wholly of the ripened fruit or spores of
the fungus, which are blown or washed out onto the
ground. In some cases the smut may appear only
toward the upper end of the first leaf, and become
cut off from the main body of the plant by the with-
ering of the former. In such a case an onion which
has shown smut in its first leaf appears, in some
instances, to recover, showing no signs of smut in
its subsequent growth ; but as a rule the same dark
appearance shows itself in the second leaf and those
subsequently formed, and if the seedling is pulled up
and examined, the whole plant will be found to be
pervaded by the disease to a greater or less extent.
Plants thus diseased, especially if the soil is dry, very
commonly succumb early, drying while in the second
or third leaf. The stronger plants, however, espe-
cially if the ground is moist, are able to resist the smut
sufficiently to make a considerable growth, and many
survive even up to the time of harvesting.

Distribution and Severity — The onion smut occurs
in Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania, if not in
several other states; Connecticut appears to suffer
more from this disease than any other locality.

The severity of the disease in different localities
is variable. It appears at first in isolated spots here
and there in a field, and from these spreads in all
directions until the whole piece becomes affected, and
the cultivation of onions upon it has to be discon-
tinued. This period from the first appearance of the
smut to the enforced discontinuance of the onion crop,

INSECTS AND DISEASES 97

appears to be, on new ground, never less than five
years.

It appears to be during the germination and
earliest growth of the onion seed only that the fungus
threads, developed from the spores, make their en-
trance into the onion seedling. Onions grown in
warm, light soils are usually more likely to be smutted
than if they are grown in heavy, wet land.
It seems undoubtedly true that the yellow and espe-
cially the red varieties are less susceptible than the
white to this, as to most other diseases affecting
the crop.

Dissemination — The popular impression that smut
is disseminated principally in the planted seed is one
which is quite erroneous. As a matter of fact seed
onions are not attacked by smut, and the presence of
smut spores in the seed is not to be considered for a
moment as a cause of its dissemination. It is very
probable, however, that smut may in some instances
be carried on seeds grown in smutted districts, the
spores adhering to their surface as any small particles
of dust might do. Any course of procedure in har-
vesting or in preparing seed which involved the dust-
ing of even a small amount of smutted earth upon
it, would render the seed dangerous for this reason.
Proper care in gathering and handling seed should,
however, obviate this danger entirely.

The local dissemination of smut is due to four
principal causes. First, through agricultural imple-
ments, plows, harrows, weeders, rakes, etc, which
spread the soil containing smut spores, both by scatter-
ing the surface earth over a smutted field and, unless
they are thoroughly cleaned, by carrying earth con-
taining smut spores into fields subsequently worked
upon. Secondly, through the adherence of the same
smutted earth to the feet of men and farm animals

98 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

and its consequent transportation from one part of a
field to another or to different fields ; an agency by no
means unimportant. Thirdly, the smut spores may
be readily washed with surface earth from higher to
lower ground, as is a matter of common observation.
Fourthly, popular opinion to the contrary, the spores
being practically imponderable may be readily blown,
with other dust-like material, either about the same
field, or into adjoining fields. The reason that this
mode of dissemination is of less importance than some
others, lies probably in the fact that the spores being
formed and making their exit from the onion com-
paratively near to the ground, are readily washed into
it by rain, and have little opportunity for blowing
directly into the air, as is the case with corn smut,
for example.

It may be mentioned here that the smut appears
to be very attractive to the "flea beetles," which swarm
over the ruptured parts of diseased seedlings and ap-
parently feed upon the spores, although they do not
seem to trouble the healthy onion leaf. That these
or other insects may serve to spread the smut, in a
way similar to that observed in some other fungi, is
not impossible.

General Precautions — Attention should perhaps
be called here to a few general precautions which may
be of service against the Urocystis, the most important
of which have already been referred to in connection
with its dissemination by farm implements, etc. Such
implements should never be used on smutted ground
and then upon new ground, without thoroughly wash-
ing off all adhering earth. The same may be said in
regard to any means by which smutted earth may
be transported.

All refuse of whatever kind that is left on the
field should be burned as soon as practicable, and

INSECTS AND DISEASES 99

although onion land is usually kept so clean that it
cannot be burned over in the fall, this practice will
be found very advantageous when it is possible.

At 'the second and subsequent hand- weedings all
onions which show smut in the second or third leaf
should be pulled, collected in a basket or other con-
venient receptacle and burned at once. This practice
involves very little trouble, and the folly of leaving
the larger smutted onions to discharge crop after crop
of spores upon the ground, as the leaves successively
mature, is apparent; especially when the enormous
number of spores thus formed is considered. It is
hardly an overestimate to say that a single large onion
may mature during a season something like a cubic
inch of smut, which means between one and two thou-
sand millions of spores, each capable of producing a
smutty onion in the following season.

If an onion grower has unlimited land suitable
for the crop it is almost superfluous to say that the
best means of avoiding smut is to take up new land
as soon as the old shows signs of the disease to any
considerable extent; but, as has been previously re-
marked, this is not a remedy for smut, any more than
it would be a remedy to stop raising onions altogether
in affected sections.

Transplanting, as a Preventive of Smut upon
Onions — Two methods of raising onions have long
been practiced by Connecticut growers; one directly
from seed, the other from small onions of the previous
year's growth, called "sets." ... It has been
observed that onions raised from sets remain free from
the disease even upon fields where onions raised
from seed always suffer more or less seriously.
Thaxter first ... demonstrated that the smut
fungus enters the onion seedling only while the latter
is beneath the surface of the ground. . . . The fact

100 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

of the immunity of transplanted seedlings was men-
tioned by Thaxter in this connection.

The method of growing onions by starting the
seed in hotbeds, and transplanting the seedlings to the
field, was suggested in 1891 by Mr T. Greiner of La
Salle, New York, and has since been practiced by him
and by others with marked success. Several of the
experiment stations also have tried this method. But
all of these experiments have had for their object
increase in the size and value of the onion crop. As
far as that was concerned they were successful in
proving that larger yields are obtained at no greater
expense, and that the onions are larger and mature
earlier than onions grown from seed sown in the open.
But it seemed more than likely that this method would
have another important advantage in producing a
sound crop of onions even upon smutty land.

It seems fair to conclude that by raising seedlings
in flats, and transplanting to the open ground, a clean
crop of onions can be grown even upon land thor-
oughly infested with smut.

The Onion Mildew (Peronospora Schleideni
Ung) — This fungus, which is similar in nature to the
downy mildew of the grape {Peronospora viticola), is
well known in Europe as producing a serious dis-
ease of cultivated onions, occuring also on wild
species. In this country 'it has been known to produce
injury among onions in Wisconsin, specimens having
been collected at Ithaca in that state. In Wethersfield,
Connecticut, it was observed only upon seed onions.
. . . In regard to remedies against this mildew,
preventive rather than curative measures seem to offer
the best prospects of good results. Knowing that it is
perpetuated over winter and originates during the
following season by means of resting spores, which

INSECTS AND DISEASES IOI

survive in the dead tissues of the onion leaves and
stalks, the necessity for destroying all such refuse needs
hardly to be pointed out. The common practice of
plowing in stalk and field refuse generally cannot be
too strongly condemned, and in the present instance
renders the infection of onions grown on the same
land another year almost certain. The stalks should
__ invariably be burned in a manner to render their
destruction as complete as possible. The repeated use,
for the same crop, of land on which the disease has
appeared, should be avoided ; and in localities where
the disease is known to exist, the use of low sheltered
land should be avoided for this crop.

The Onion Macrosporium (Macrosporium sarci-
nula Berk; variety parasiticum Thum) — In a majority
of cases, the mildew just described was followed by a
black appearance, resulting from the growth of a fun-
gus wholly different from the Peronospora, namely, the
onion Macrosporium (M. sarcinula var parasiticum).
Although more common and conspicuous among seed
onions which have suffered from the mildew, this
fungus appears to be almost universal among onions
in the state, occurring on market as well as seed onions
and sets. Jt is much more conspicuous on the seed
stalks than elsewhere, forming a deep black, velvety
coating, which sometimes involves the whole stalk.
On the leaves it is less conspicuous, often brownish
or not so evenly black, and when the mildew has not
preceded it, it is less evenly diffused, occurring here
and there in patches.

In regard to remedies in the case of this disease,
it is not probable that any direct treatment would be
advisable; but it should be kept in check by the sys-
tematic destruction of all stalks and field refuse gener-
ally, which can only be done effectually by burning.

102 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

.Plowing in such refuse, or composting it, should
never be resorted to under any circumstances.

The Onion V ermicularia (V ermicularia circinans
Berk) — The outer bulb scales of the white varieties
of onions, before they are harvested, are often attacked
by a black growth, quite inconspicuous at this time,
and composed usually of a central black dot, or small
ring, outside of which one or more larger rings are
arranged concentrically and with greater or less
regularity. When kept in a moderately moist, warm
atmosphere, this black appearance extends itself with
considerable rapidity, either growing in concentric
circles or successive wavy lines, or forming evenly
black areas on the bulb. At first this is confined to
the outer layer of scales ; but, as the disease extends,
it penetrates several successive layers, inducing decay
and often presenting an appearance, beneath the outer
layer, hardly distinguishable, at first sight, from the
onion smut. If the black rings and blotches are
examined closely they may be readily seen to be com-
posed of numerous black points of various size, single
or running together in clumps, and apparently made
up for the most part of very minute bristles.

The economic importance of this disease rests
upon the fact that, although it does not as a rule
injure the onions seriously, or become conspicuous
upon them until after they are housed, it often attacks
them subsequently to such an extent as greatly to dis-
figure them, and impair their value for marketing
purposes. Some idea of the serious nature of the
disease may be inferred from the fact that one gentle-
man, whose statement is wholly reliable, estimates
his actual loss from this cause during the past season
at several thousand dollars.

The fungus is introduced into the onion house
from the field, where it occurs not very abundantly

INSECTS AND .DISEASES IO3

on the bulbs before they are pulled, especially if they
have been weakened from any cause, and among the
housed onions it propagates itself with a severity
proportional to the favorableness of the conditions
offered it for the formation, dissemination and ger-
mination of its spores above described. These con-
ditions are warmth and moisture, and the proximity
of uninfected bulbs. It may be communicated by
contact with diseased bulbs or with any object, such
as the hands, or tools that have been subjected to such
contact, and may be also spread by strong drafts
which blow about the spores or dry scales containing
them.

The most important precaution which can be
taken against the disease consists in housing the
onions during dry weather after the bulbs are thor-
oughly dried off. No bins which have contained such
black onions should be used a second time, until they
have been thoroughly cleaned and sprinkled with quick-
lime, or quicklime and sulphur. All danger of heat-
ing should be avoided, and the onions stored in as
cool and dry a place as possible, which can be arranged
to be ventilated in dry weather and shut up when the
atmosphere is moist. Should the fungus be noticed
on the bulbs at the time of storing, or in any case
when there has been previous damage from this cause,
it is probable that a treatment with dry air-slaked
lime, such as has been recommended with success for
potatoes (one bushel of lime to twenty-five bushels
of onions), applied at the time of storing, would
prove of great service in checking the spread of the
fungus. The utility of this practice, however, needs
confirmation by actual experiment before it can be
definitely recommended. In any case, such treatment
should be made at the outset, since it would have

IO4 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

comparatively little influence after the disease was
well established.

The question has been asked whether bulbs at-
tacked by the V ermicularia can safely be used for seed
onions, and it may be said that this can be done with
perfect safety, provided that the fungus has not at-
tacked them sufficiently to have induced rotting; since
as a rule the surface layers only are affected, the bulb
being otherwise sound. No infection of the seed or
seed stalks is to be feared ; but the old bulb will be
likely to harbor the fungus during the summer, and
communicate it to market onions if planted near them.

CHAPTER XII
Growing Onions in the Southern States

REPORT FROM PROF W. F. MASSEY OF NORTH CAROLINA

It was long the general opinion, and is still the
opinion of some, that in the South the onion crop must
always be treated as a biennial and grown from sets.
It was thought that the crop could not be produced in
the warmer climate of the southern states the same
year from spring sown seeds.

The reason for these erroneous notions was that
the southern gardener copied too closely the methods
laid down in books written for the North. Thus,
sowing the seed at the time which is proper for the
northern states resulted in sets rather than onions,
because the hot weather comes too soon for them and
causes them to stop growing. But when, we took into
consideration the hardiness of the plant and the differ-
ence in climate, and sowed the seed in February instead
of April, we had as long and cool season for them as
in the North, and the result was fully as good a crop
of ripe onions as can be grown anywhere.

But the development of market gardening in the
South of late years has brought a demand for an early
onion which can be bunched when half grown and
put on the market green. For this purpose, the sets
are essential. We grow the sets by sowing seed very
thickly in soil of only moderate fertility early in April.
We use the Queen onion for this purpose, as it is a
very early sort and is also quite hardy in the winter.
The sets are taken up as soon as the tops ripen and

IO6 THE NEW ONION CULTURE

spread in a dry place with the tops on, as they keep
better in this way. In September the tops are cleaned
off and the sets prepared for planting. This can be
done at any time in the fall up to November, but the
earlier the better.

We mark off the land in rows twenty inches
apart or even less, for all the cultivation needed can
easily be done with a wheel hoe run by man power.
Light mellow soil is needed, and it should be high and
well drained. In the furrows we place about 1000
pounds per acre of a mixture of goo pounds of acid
phosphate, 600 pounds of cottonseed meal, and 400
pounds of muriate of potash to make a top. This
has a furrow thrown over it from each side, making a
sharp list. The lists are flattened somewhat and in
shallow furrows made on them the sets are planted
deeply so that they will be about on the level soil
when the earth is drawn from them in February, but
we set them deep as a winter protection. These sets
are for the early green onion only. For a ripe crop
we prepare the land thoroughly and sow the seed in
the spring about the middle of February and thin
them when up to about three inches in the row. We
use the same fertilization as for the fall sets. For
this crop we have found nothing better than the
Southport White Globe, as it keeps better than any
onion we have grown, and we have tested eighteen
or twenty other varieties.

The yellow Potato onion is about the earliest ripe
onion that can be put on the market, and it generally
pays very well, because the market is at that time
pretty bare of ripe onions. But the Potato onion must
be sold as soon as ripe, for it is a poor keeper. It
makes no seed, but produces offsets from the bulbs,
which are set in the fall as other sets, a small set
making a big onion and a larger one two to three of

ONION GROWING IN THE SOUTH IO7

marketable size. There is another onion of the same
character but white in color, which is used at times
for early green onions. This one never grows as
large as the yellow Potato onion, but is one of the
best keepers, and its white color makes it desirable
for the bunching in spring.

Of late years there has been a great deal of talk
in regard to a new method of growing onions. This
is to sow the seed under glass in winter or early spring,
and transplant them later. This method is of no
advantage in the culture of the ordinary American
varieties, but works very well with the big yellow
onion sold under the name of Prizetaker. In the
South the seed of this onion should be sown in a
cold frame protected by glass sashes about the middle
of January. Care must be taken to give plenty of
air in the frame and to keep the plants from drawing
up too tender. Gradually expose them to the air, so
that by the last of February or ' early March they
will be ready to set in the open ground. Set them
just as advised for the sets, and when well established
draw the earth from them so as to have the onions
resting on the surface and only the roots in the ground.
This onion makes the big yellow onion seen at times
in boxes in the grocery stores, and is the largest onion
grown and one of the mildest.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bulletins and reports containing references on
onion growing, published by experiment stations and
the United States department of agriculture :

I. GENERAL CULTURE OF THE ONION, INCLUDING FERTILIZATION
OF THE SOIL

Department of Washington, Farmers' Bulletin No 39.

Alabama Station Bulletin No 51.

Arkansas Station Bulletin No 56.

Connecticut Storrs Station Report 1896, page 237.

Florida Station Bulletin No 2; No 31.

Indiana Station Bulletin No 53.

Kansas Station Bulletin No 70.

Massachusetts Hatch Station Report 1895, page 299; 1899,
page 16.

Minnesota Bulletin No 10; Report 1887-88, page 225.

New York Station Bulletin No 206; Report 1883, page
184; 1884, page 201; 1891, page 477.

North Carolina Bulletin No 83; No 112.

North Dakota Bulletin No 18.

Ohio Report 1885, page 126.

South Dakota Bulletin No 47.

Tennessee Bulletin Vol XII, No 3.

Texas Bulletin No 60.

Virginia Bulletin No n; No 60.

II. THE NEW ONION CULTURE

Arkansas Bulletin No 28; No 56.

Connecticut Station Report 1895, page 176.

Idaho Bulletin No 22.

Louisiana Bulletin No 27, second series.

Michigan Bulletin No 79.

North Dakota Bulletin No 12.

Ohio Bulletin Vol III, No 9, second series.

Rhode Island Bulletin No 14.

South Dakota Bulletin No 47.

Tennessee Bulletin Vol V, No 4; Vol VI, No 4.

Texas Bulletin No 36; No 60.

Utah Bulletin No 45.

West Virginia Bulletin No 39.

Wyoming Bulletin No 22.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

III. VARIETY TESTS

Alabama College Bulletin No 20, new series; Bulletin
No 51.

Arizona Station Report 1899, page 252; 1900, page 158.

Arkansas Bulletin No 28; No 34; No 44.

Colorado Station Report 1888, pages 118, 121; 1889, pages
40, 98; 1890, pages 50, 192; 1892, pages 51, 58, 66; 1896,
page 164; Bulletin No 26.

Florida Bulletin No 31 ; Station Report 1896, pages 24,
80; 1898, page 36.

Georgia Station Report 1899, page 136.

Idaho Bulletin No 10; No 22.

Indiana Bulletin No 18.

Kansas Bulletin No 70.

Kentucky Bulletin No 38.

Louisiana Bulletin No 3; No 36; No 52, second series.

• Maryland Bulletin No 5.

Michigan Bulletin No 120; No 144; No 170.
Minnesota Bulletin No 10; Station Report 1888, pages
236, 261.

Nebraska Bulletin No 6; No 12; No 19.

* New York Station Bulletin No 69; Report 1882, page
125; 1883, page 183; 1884, page 200; 1885, page 119; 1886,
page 236; 1887, page 318; 1889, page 330; 1891, page 456.

North Carolina Bulletin No 112.

North Dakota Bulletin No 18.

Ohio Bulletin, Vol III, No 9.

Oklahoma Bulletin No 15.

Pennsylvania Station Report 1893, page 126; Bulletin
No 14.

South Dakota Bulletin No 47; No 52; No 59.

Tennessee Bulletin Vol VI, No 4; Station Report 1899,
page 64.

Texas Bulletin No 36.

Utah Bulletin No 45.

Virginia Bulletin No n; No 60.

Washington Bulletin No 19.

West Virginia Bulletin No 22; No 39.

IV. GERMINATION TESTS OF SEED

Alabama College Bulletin No 2 (1887).

Maine Station Report 1888, page 140; 1889, page 150.

New York Station Report 1882, page 125; 1883, pages
60, 69, 183.

Ohio Station Report 1883, pages 170, 176; 1885, pages
164, 175; 1886, page 254; 1887, page 284.

Oregon Bulletin No 2.

no THE NEW ONION CULTURE

Pennsylvania Station Report 1889, page 164.
South Carolina Station Report 1888, page 85.
Vermont Station Report 1889, page 107.

V. DISEASES

Connecticut Bulletin No in; No 115; Station Report
1889, page 158; 1890, page 103; 1895, page 176.

North Dakota Bulletin No 12.

New Jersey Station Report 1890, page 354; 1894, page
351; 1893, page 352; 1897, page 300; 1898, page 319.

New York Station Bulletin No 164; No 182.

Ohio Station Bulletin No 127; No 122.

Oregon Station Bulletin No 27.

Vermont Station Report 1890, page 141; 1895, page 113;
1896-97, page 61.

Wisconsin State Station Report 1883, page 38; 1893,
page 247.

VI. INSECTS

Colorado State Station Bulletin No 24 ; Station Report

1894, page 36.

Connecticut State Station Report 1889, page 180; 1894,
page 139.

Florida State Station Bulletin No 46.

Iowa State Station Bulletin No 27.

Michigan State Station Bulletin No 175.

Nebraska State Station Report 1898, page 27.

New Jersey Station Report 1894, page 441 ; 1895, page 447.

New York State Station Bulletin No 83 ; No 120 ; Report

1895, page 758; 1896, page 522.

New York Cornell Experiment Station Bulletin No 78;
Report 1894, page 481.

Ohio State Station Bulletin No 58.

United States Department Agriculture, Division of En-
tomology Bulletin No 26, new series.

In the book trade are found the following, viz :

ONION RAISING. What kinds to raise and the way to
raise them. By J. J. H. Gregory. Illustrated. First issued
in 1865,

ONIONS FOR PROFIT. By T. Greiner. Illustrated. First
published in 1893.

More or less full directions how to grow onions
are also found in

BIBLIOGRAPHY III

How TO MAKE THE GARDEN PAY. By T. Greiner. Illus-
trated. Revised edition in 1895.

THE GARDEN BOOK. By T. Greiner. Illustrated. Pub-
lished in 1901,

and in almost all other modern books on general
gardening.

IN CONCLUSION

I do not despise "the good old way." There is
and will continue to be money "in onions," even
when grown as heretofore, provided the grower
understands his business, and it does not happen to be
a year of excessive production. With fairly good soil,
heavy manuring and skillful management it is not a
difficult task to grow 600 bushels, and even upward,
to the acre. Such crop should leave the grower a
good profit, even at fifty cents a bushel.

But we have learned to do better — much better —
than this, by practising the "new onion culture." This
is worth the trial for any onion grower situated as
we are. The average price is much lower than for-
merly, while our lands have decreased in fertility.
If there is a way to increase the yield, and the price
at the same time, we cannot afford to ignore it.

The good old way

Of yesterday,
May not be best

For us to-day.

INDEX

PAGE

Advantages and profits 51

Analysis of onions 72

Barletta onions, Assorted sizes

of 63

Bibliography 108

Bunching or green onions 64

Conclusion 112

Crating choice onions

Curing crib 4°

Shed

The crop 39

Damping off i o

Expense of crop per acre 52

Flat onions 60

Flats, plants raised in 3

Forcing pits 7

Greenhouses, small

Harvesting the crop 38

When and how 38

Homemade onion hoe 36

Hotbeds 3

Fire 6

Level ground 5

Sunken pits 4

Importance of good plants 14

Insects and diseases 87

Onion cutworms 92

Macrosporium 101

Maggot 87

Mildew too

Smut 95

Thrip 89

Vermicularia 102

Irrigation 37

Keeping onions during winter... 49

Manure 13, 71

Animal 17

Barnyard 71

Chemical 17

Hen 72

How to prepare it 13

Put it on thick 16

Marker, old style. 22

Tracing wheel 24

Muck land for onions..... 14

Nitrogenous commercial fertiliz-
ers 73

Old onion culture, The 55

Onion sieve 62

PAGE

Pickling onions, Cleaning 63

For 6 1

Plants, how they are grown x

How they are set 21

Potash salts 74

Quality for seed 61

Receipts of crop per acre 53

46 Red onions 59

40 Round onions 59

39 Seed bed 1 1

Growing 68

Growing in Ca'ifqrnia 68

Sewing with a d"'ll 57

Selling from the field 49

The crop 44

, Sets, growing onion 64.

8 Setting the plants 21, 25

Cost of 21

Depth of 29

Distances apart of 21

Lifting the plants 27

Time for 29

Trimming the plants 27

With tne dibber 25

Soil, how to fit 19

What to select 13

Soils and manures 70

Southern states, Onions in the 105

Storage houses 42

Strawberries and onions 18

Tillage as moisture preserver... 32

As weed killer 33

102 Varieties of onions 75

Adriatic Barletta 81

American 77

American Pearl 81

Australian Brown 79

Barletta 81

Beaulieu's Hardy White 85

Bermuda Red 81

Button 77

Danvers 77

Early Pearl 81

Early Yellow Cracker 79

Early White Queen 82

Egyptian 76

El Paso 83

Extra Early Red 77

Foreign varieties 81

114

INDEX

PAGE

Varieties

Giant Gibraltar 84

Golden Seal 79

Italian May 82

Large Mexican 83

Mammoth Pompeii 82

Marzajola 82

Multiplier 75

New Queen 82

Pearl 82

Pink Prizetaker . 81

Potato Onion 76

Prizetaker 80

Prizewinner 81

Red Mammoth Tripoli 81

Red Rocca 82

Red Victoria 83

Rhode Island Yellow Cracker. 79

Rocca 8

Shallots 76

Sjlver King 83

Silver Skin 77

Silver White Aetna 81

Southport White Globe

Varieties

Top 76

Tree . 76

Weihersfield 78

Wethersfield Red 70

White Garganus

A\-u;i_ /-i P

White GloBe...". ..." '.".'.'.'. ".V 79'

White Italian Tripoli 83

White Portugal

White Rocca 82

White Victoria 84

Winter 76

Yellow Dutch 79

Yellow Globe Danvers 77

Yellow Prizetaker 2

Yellow Rocca 82

Yellow Strasburg 79

Zittau 80

2 Waste steam in greenhouse heat-
ing 6

Weeding 58

Hand 35

Wheel hoes 22, 24

intering onions 64

79 W

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how to physic a horse (allopathy or homeopathy) ; how to
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etc. Beautifully illustrated. 425 pages. 5x7 inches.
Cloth $1.50

Diseases of Horses and Cattle.

By DR. D. MC!NTOSH, V. S., professor of veterinary
science in the university of Illinois. Written expressly for the
farmer, stockman ?nd veterinary strident. A new work on
the treatment of animal diseases, according to the modern
status of veterinary science, has become a necessity. Such an
one is this volume of over 400 pages, written by one of the
most eminent veterinarians of our country. Illustrated. 426
pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $i-75

The Ice Crop.

By THERON L. HILES. How to harvest, ship and use ice.
A complete, practical treatise for farmers, dairymen, ice
dealers, produce shippers, meat packers, cold storers, and all
interested in icehouses, cold storage, and the handling or use
,of ice in any way. Including many recipes for iced dishes and
beverages. The book is illustrated by cuts of the tools and
machinery used in cutting and storing ice, and the different
forms of icehouses and cold storage buildings. Illustrated.
122 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. .... $1.00

The Secrets of Health, or Hozv Not to Be Sick, and
How to Get Well from Sickness.

By S. H. PLATT, A. M., M. D., late member of the Connect-
icut Eclectic Medical Society, the National Eclectic Medical
Association, and honorary member of the National Bacterio-
logical Society of America; our medical editor and author of
'Talks With Our Doctor" and "Our Health Adviser." Nearly
600 pages. An index of 20 pages, so that any topic may be
instantly consulted. A new departure in medical knowledge
for the people — the latest progress, secrets and practices of all
schools of healing made available for the common people —
health without medicine, nature without humbug, common
sense without folly, science without fraud. 8l illustrations.
576 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50

STANDARD BOOKS.

Hunter and Trapper.

By HALSEY THRASHER, an old and experienced sportsman.
The best modes of hunting and trapping are fully explained,
and foxes, deer, bears, etc., fall into his traps readily by fol-
lowing his directions. Illustrated. 92 pages. 5x7 inches.
Cloth $0.50

Batty's Practical Taxidermy and Home Decoration.

By JOSEPH H. BATTY, taxidermist for the government
surveys and many colleges and museums in the United States.
An entirely new and complete as well as authentic work on
taxidermy — giving in detail full directions for collecting
and mounting animals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects, and
general objects of natural history. 125 illustrations. 204
pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . . . . $1.00

Hemp.

By S. S. BOYCE. A practical treatise on the culture of
hemp for seed and fiber, with a sketch of the history and
nature of the hemp plant. The various chapters are devoted
to the soil and climate adapted to the culture of hemp for
seed and for fiber, irrigating, harvesting, retting and machin- '
ery for handling hernp. Illustrated. 112 pages. 5x7 inches.
Cloth. . ....... $0.50

Alfalfa.

By F. D. COBURN. Its growth, uses and feeding value.
The fact that alfalfa thrives in almost any soil; that without
reseeding, it goes on yielding two, three, four and sometimes
five cuttings annually for five, ten, or perhaps 100 years ; and
that either green or cured it is one of the most nutritious
forage plants known, makes reliable information upon its pro-
duction and uses of unusual interest. Such information is
given in this volume for every part of America, by the highest
authority. Illustrated. 164 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $0.50

Talks on Manure.

By JOSEPH HARRIS, M. S. A series of familiar and
practical talks between the author and the deacon, the doctor,
and other neighbors, on the whole subject of manures and
fertilizers; including a chapter especially written for it
by Sir John Bennet Lawes of Rothamsted, England. 366

pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50

3

STANDARD BOOKS.

Practical Forestry.

By ANDREW S. FULLER. A treatise on the propagation,
planting and cultivation, with descriptions and the botanical
and! popular names of all the indigenous trees of the United
States, and notes on a large number of the most valuable
exotic species. Illustrated. 300 pages. 5x7 inches.
Cloth $1.50

Irrigation for the Farm, Garden and Orchard.

By HENRY STEWART. This work is offered to those
American farmers and other cultivators of the soil who, from
painful experience, can readily appreciate the losses which
result from the scarcity of water at critical periods. Fully
illustrated. 276 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . $1.00

Irrigation Farming.

By LUTE WILCOX. A handbook for the practical applica-
tion of water in the production of crops. A cpmpiete treatise
on water supply, canal construction, reservoirs and ponds,
pipes for irrigation purposes, flumes and their structure,
methods of applying water, irrigation of field crops, the
garden, the orchard and vineyard, windmills and pumps,
appliances and contrivances. New edition, revised, enlarged
and rewritten. Pn/usely illustrated. Over 500 pages. 5x7
inches. Cloth. $2.00

Ginseng, Its Cultivation. Harvesting, Marketing and
Market Value.

By MAURICE G. KAINS, with a short account of its history
and botany. It discusses in a practical way how to begin with
either seed or roots, soil, climate and location, preparation,
planting and maintenance of the beds, artificial propagation,
manures, enemies, selection for market and for improvement,
preparation for sale, and the profits that may be expected.
This booklet is concisely written, well and profusely illus-
trated, and should be in the hands of all who expect to grow
this drug to supply the export trade, and to add a new and
profitable industry to their farms and gardens, without inter-
fering with the regular work. New edition. Revised and en-
larged. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . . $0.50

Truck Farming at the South.

By A. OEMLER. A work giving the experience of a suc-
cessful grower of vegetables or "garden truck" for northern
markets. Essential to anyone who contemplates entering this
profitable field of agriculture. Illustrated. 274 pages. 5x7
inches. Cloth. ....... $1.00

4

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