American homes and gardens . , the YellowDanver, the YellowDutch, the YellowStrasburg, and manyothers. The onions areplanted in Decemberand by August andSeptember the seed hasgenerally matured suf-ficiently to be gath-ered. The gatheringis all done by hand, thelaborers generally em-ployed being soon as the seed isripe the gatherers goout into the fields, cutoff the tops of theonions with about aninch of stalk and dropthem into large baskets perts of each farm areconstantly conductinginvestigations with theview to producing newvarieties by hybridiz-ing or by othermeans, and should ne
American homes and gardens . , the YellowDanver, the YellowDutch, the YellowStrasburg, and manyothers. The onions areplanted in Decemberand by August andSeptember the seed hasgenerally matured suf-ficiently to be gath-ered. The gatheringis all done by hand, thelaborers generally em-ployed being soon as the seed isripe the gatherers goout into the fields, cutoff the tops of theonions with about aninch of stalk and dropthem into large baskets perts of each farm areconstantly conductinginvestigations with theview to producing newvarieties by hybridiz-ing or by othermeans, and should newvarieties be developed,exhaustive tests oftheir permanency andcharacter are made inexperimental and trialgrounds, and thus be-fore their introductionto the dealer six yearsof close developmentand observation arefrequently determine the per-centage of vitality inseeds before they arefinally shipped, a naverage is taken andThe seeds are still green when planted in a glass testing house. If eightv-tive per cent, of. View of a California Onion Ranch, showing Irrigation Trenches gathered and if cut in the morning while wet with dew it the sample germinates, the standard is attainedtakes considerably longer to dry them than ifgathered in the afternoon, and hence this periodof the day is usually the busiest one on an onionfarm, during harvest time. The seed pods areconveyed in sacks by means of wagons to thedrying ground, where they are spread out onlarge sheets to dry in the sunshine. To facili-tate the process of drying the heaps are turnedover daily by means of wooden forks. As rainscarcely ever falls during the drying seasonthe operation progresses rapidly in the genialwarmth of the sun. When thoroughly dry thepods are conveyed to the threshing machine, ofthe conventional type, which rapidly winnowsthe seed from the chaff, the latter flying into theair in a cloud that whitens everybody and every-thing within reach, while the seed is carried intolarge sacks. After the
Size: 1903px × 1312px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectarchitecturedomestic
