The record-union., 1895-02-19

According to Professor G. A. Goessman,
the leading constituents of the onion are
potash, nitrogen, sulphuric acid and
phosphoric acid. A crop of 442 bushels
contained: Potassium oxide. 3S.5l fbs.;
phosphoric acid, 1880 tbs.; sulphuric acid,
29.S1 lbs, and nitrogen, 1853 tbs., with
smaller quantities of other substances.
1t is easy to see from this the matters
which the plant needs most in the soil.
1t was formerly supposed to be lmpractl-
cable to grow this crop in the South the
same season from the seed, and hence to
this day many people in the South think
it is necessary to use the small sets to
grow a crop OF onions. The fact is that
in any section in the United States
better crop can be grown from the seed
than from the sets. The points to be OBJ
served are to SOW at the right time to suit
the latitude and climate. In the extreme
South this is in the early fall, or last
of September; IN the upper South, from
Central Georgia to Virginia, IN January
or February; in the Middle and \ Northern
States, as early as the soil can be had IN
good working condition; and on the Pa
citic Coast, at the beginning OF the rainy
season. The onion Is Such nardy DulD
that it's needs require cool season to
grow i'll.
The main cause of the failure to grow
onions from the black seed in the South
in former years, was that the growers
did not realize this and followed the
practices OF cooler regions, and the hot
weather caught the crop i'll halt-grown
state and Iipened it Oft III sets instead OF
large onions as would have been the case
had the seed been sown earlier. Another
cause of failure was the use OF one-sided
fertilizers. The constitution OF the
onion shows that 1t uses large percent
age of nitrogen, but it also shows that it
needs a large supply Of phosphoric acid
in the shape OF superphosphate, and an
equally liberal supply OF potash In
soluble form. Hence the old popu-
larity of hardwood ashes for this crop in
all the large oniOn-growing sections
North, while the Southern growers, gen.
orally growing for home use, relied on
the heterogeneous manures of the barnyard
and got a big growth of tops without a
corresponding development Of bulbs.
Now that the onion crop has gotten to be
of such great commercial Importance in
all sections of the country, a lew notes as
to its culture and fertilization may not be
Gmiss:
The onion prefers mellow. sandy soil
for it's best DEVELOPMENT. and it is just
such soils that are most commonly de-
ticient iii the food elements it most re-
GuireS. The onion IS peculiar IN another
respect: the maximum crop is seldom. if
ever, grown the year the land is planted
in onions, no matter how fertile it may
be. 1t is one of those crops that may be
grown year after year on the same land
provided the needs of the plant IN the
way OF fertilizers are well supplied. And
as the soils most favorable TO the crop
have lower aOsorptlve power than clay
soils, the need for heavy annual applica-
q "a ia
given shows that no one-sIded fertilizer
material will ill the bill. but il is evident
that the three most generally lacking
food elements-nitrOgen, phoSphoric acid
and potasSium-mUst all be present in
suitable proportions.
Onions thrive wonderfully well on the
black, sandy, peaty soil OF reclaimed
swamps, when the deficiencies of such
soils are supplied. Their greatest de-
ticiency is usually potash. They are
usually rich in mineral matters. mex
perienced people are often surprised to
see that great quantities of fertilizers are
used on some Of these back lands that
look TO them so rich, by skilled onion
growers. But the skilled growers know
the difference between 200 bushels and
1000 bushels will pay for liberal use of
the fertilizers. a commonly advised
dressing is 100 bushels of hard wood
ashes per acre, but there are few growers
who can get these. Those growers who
are not favored with the large vegetable
Accommodations in their soil that the black
sandy swamps have, can increase the
supply by blowing under some crop that
can be grown after the onion is oil. In
the South the COW pea is admirably
suited for this purpose. These buried
crops lessen the necessity for purchased
nitrogen. The phosphoric acid needed
by the onion crop can best be supplied by
superphosphate made from raw ZONES
dissolved in sulphuric acid.
The potash which the analysis shows
to be so important to the crop can best be
supplied in the concentrated form of the
sulphate of potash. The low-priced
KANT or other crude potash salt will
give too great percentage of chloride
sodium, harmful to the plant, which con-
tains very minute percentage OF sodium,
and this rather accidental than needed,
there being only about one pound of So
dunn in i42 bushels. The following will
be found good formula FOR an onion fer
tilizer: Fish scrap, 700 lbs; nitrate soda,
300 tbs.; dissolved bone. 600 lbs; sulphate
potash, 400 lbs.
This makes one ton, and applied at 4he
rate OF half ton annually will, with the
necessary clean culture, give maximum
crops on suitable land. The fertilizer
should be applied i'll a furrow, and the
furrow then covered by tapping two fur
rows over the first. The ridge thus made
is then rolled nearly flat and the seed
sown on the I1attened ridge. This puts
them right over the fertilizer, and the
slight elevation makes the first wedding
easier. The subsequent culture must be
shallow, but frequent, and when the
bulbs begin TO swell the soil must be
scraped away so as to let the bulb form
on the surface.-W. +. Massey in Rural
Pacific Press.
THE OLIVE IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
LII,
the olive question from the standpoin Of
the olive orchards of various European
countries, writes thus TO the Los Angeles
Times:
Everywhere you go in the European
olive districts they set before you the
most delicious olives | have ever eaten,
Aou find them in the peasants hut as
well as on the rich mans table-all deli.
cious. These olives keep perfectly fol
two or more years without perceptiblt
deterioration. There is no secret process
of curing them. The natives place the
fruit in baskets, resembling large cham
payne baskets. These baskets are placed
III the running waters of a mountain
stream, remaining there thirty or forty
days. This simple treatment removes the
acrldnesS and bitterness from the olive
with thoroughness not equaled Ivy any
other treatment. The method pursued in
Southern California of treating olives will
I've is an abomination as compared will
the Italian and French method, which is
absolutely pure, simple and effective.
California olives cured with I've do no
keep long and are not TO be compared
with the common olive of Europe. After
the bitterness of the olive has been re.
moved by the four to six weeks bath il
running water, it is placed in a weak
brine, and there the preserving process.
ends. The I've process Of curing is a soar
factory process. Few OF the best European
olives are imported, or, at least, no