The Jimplecute. (Jefferson, Tex.) 18??-1907, 1904-08-13
Onion Growing in Texas.

some useful information for onion grow
ers. we extract: The onion will grow
on almost all soils. and will adapt itself
to almost all natural surroundings and
conditions; that is, the blacklist, the
whitest and the redest soils will yield
large crops of onions if they are made
rich by large applications of fertilizer,
either barnyard or commercial. These,
combined with thorough tilage and fire.
quent watering, insure an abundant
crop every year on almost any Texas
soil, while with many other fruits and
vegetables it is quite the contrary, The
tomato, for example, one of the most
popular ofall vegetables, seems to reach
its climax in color, flavor and carrying
quality in the light sandy soil of East
Texas. The same with the sweet pota-
to, while the Irish potato does equally
as well or better on the heavier, black
er soil, and the apple arrives at it's best
in the northern part of the State, and
the peach has a natural home in the
central east part of the State lin Cher
okee, Smith and other counties.) This
is true with many other fruits and veg
etabes. They have their special loca-
ton and soils upon which they reach
their greatest perfection and no kind of
fertilizing or thing will bring them to
this outside of these special localities.
The onion is one of the oldest of vege-
tables cultivated by man. 1t has been
grown for thousands of years, and in
most all parts of the world And, con-
sidering this, it is surprising the ignor.
ance that exist among most farmers
and many gardeners about its cultiva-
ton. harvesting, marketing, etc. have
received scores of letters of inquiry
from everywhere about seeds, sets, va
rieties, planting, cultivation, harvest
ing, marketing, etc. 1t is my intention
in this letter to give the information as
near as 1 can that has been sought by
nearly all of these parties:
1. Get genuine fresh seed-nearly all
the reliable seedmen have them-of the
white Bermuda variety. The seed are
imported from the Teneriffe Island,
near west coast of Africa, and cost
about So per pound here, 1t takes about
two bushels per acre, and in September,
as soon as you can get them, they
should be planted in thoroughly pre-
pared bed, with seed drill, in rows IL
inches apart, and thoroughly watered
when planted. AS soon as up good,
which is in 10 days, they should be
watered and cultivated with double
wheel hoes every two weeks until about
Dec. 1, transplanting time. Then they
are taken up and roots and tops cut off,
about e-half, and put in beds lust
like the seed bed, l20 feet long and IL
feet wide. 10 rows in each bed. These
beds have small border thrown up
around them so as to control the water,
as all watering is done the flooding way,
The little plants are about the size of a
slate pencil when ready to transplant;
are put inches apart in the drill, and
are cultivated with double wheel hoes
every two weeks until about Odays be-
fore digging. They are ripe when most
of the tops have dropped over. We use
many-tined fork in digging that will
lift several onions at each movement Of
the fork. A pillow or digger of any kind
is not practical at Laredo on account of
the hard, baked soil. They might be
used elsewhere in the State. These on
ions are let stay in the sunshine for "a
hours, then hauled to the barn, where
roots and tops are cut off with COM
mon sheep shears and packed in nicely
made Slated crates holding about At
pounds net and loaded in ventilated
stable cars, about 400 crates to the car
The methods of marketing are about as
many as the men that grow them. We
think we have been quite successful in
marketing on the consignment plan.
We select as near as we can the best,
most reliable, old established commits
sion houses in the cities in the North
and East and get in touch with them
by correspondence sometime before the
crop is ready to move, and let them
know what we have. And while we are
shipping we are posted by wire daily on
all the markets, and supply the differ
ent markets according to price and de-
mand by diverting from st. Louis, as