Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1904-02-05
BIG MONEY In ONIONS
Farmers Of Iowa Making Fortunes
by Raising Them
scott County the Great Producing
Region How the Crop -
shipped and " here II
Goes.

0oCbs
One OF the greatest onion growing dis-
tricts in the United States, often quoted
as the greatest, ia that when lies along
tho Iowa shore Of the Mississippi river
cboye here and has Davenport as It's
market and shipping point, me onion
Is known as the scott county orange.
ind Is one of the mair agricultural s'a-
pies of this region. Just now y Is peins
sent in carload after carload TO St, Louis,
the principal point of distribution over
the south. There are some sh'pments
TO other southern points, even as iar as
New Orleans, but St Louis is the great
iobhlnp point to which the commission
houses here consign. Chicago gets lar
slice OF the crop, Cincinnati "a es some
and there are scattering shipments 70
other points. but St Louis has long been
the principal consignee.
The harvest has been on here several
weebs. says 6 recent Davenport report
The crop Is fne and, though the average
is not as great this year as II has peep
In some past years, there appears nov
to be total product here OF 100 10 zoo
carlosds, running about 600 bushels 10
the car. The quality Ia excellent TINS
year and the market has held hrmly
around tae price OF so cents per bnshe
tJsually the rrice says by this time, hut
this year II hrs held up well The fali-
ure of the crop. in part or In whole IN
other onion growing regions 10 under
stood to be the reasln of this stiffness.
There IL a tract In Ohio that grows
good onioLs. aud there is another IN
Nebraska. bout 40 miles west OF Omaha.
but the Sc ,tt county, Iowa, onion field
has for so years been the big one ana
one that could always reckoned upon.
Til. re have been very few failuref here.
The quality has fuctuatei with the sea-
son. sunburn and rot appes ing at times
TO do mischief, but usually Che red onion
Of Scott county has been we'll at tie top
Of the MARKET 1t has made more than
one n IN rich In this part OF the counr
try, and 1t is ~g oiYidenos thls
year.
There Is no crop that northern farrl-
er can rri,e that n cans so much money
to him as the onion. Unfortunately the
opportunities in that direction are few.
FOR there is rot much prime OF lon land
in the country When the Scot coun-
tv trnct was rev, In the earicet 40's II
was no difficult thing to get 000 bushels
from an acre cf H. Nearly trnt yield has
been gathered In recent years where the
| fields have been well maintained witi
! fertilizers and cultivation. Five hundred
+ AID 500 bushels to the acre are more
usual but still higher yields ere often
got. There Is a good deal OF work in
I making the CROP. cultivation being a
large item. 80 II Is reckoned that II takes
$40 to $50 an acre to grow onions. In
times CT low prices the margin Is reduced,
but II Ia still large, except when Rlut
of onions let's the bottom quite out OF
the marlet. Once or twice within the
last Or years onions here have been down
70 ten cents and even eight cents bush
el, with practically no sales at those
pricns, but the average has been ffr
above those fpures, and at a price tat
meant LARGE returns.
There Is more money in onions than
IN cern % tir g over, provided that the
l-nd Ia pdapfe6 to onion growing. a
yield ~ roo heeheis to the mere at this
years prices has meant prnft ct 5000
or more per acre; ard In those cHfes
whore the farmer and his family Gid tho
work, hiring nothlng they have ab-
sorbcd the cost cf crltivf'ion and made
Just that much more. The best Scott
courtv onion land is held at hundreds
OF dollars per acre and Is rarely sold. 1t
is usually farmcd In fields OF email or
patches, tracts Of an acre or two. or a
frac'ic1 of ar acre. that are made to
yield astonishirrly
The crop is always shipped In gunny
sackr, holding about two bushels, never
In bulk. During the onion harvest here
there are usually weeks when the streets
are blocked by the wagons Of the onion
growers, waiting their chance to get 10
the warehouse. unloading or getting
away. The steamers usually carry a
good nart Of the shipments 10 St Louis.
though there is very large bflarce that
goes there by rail In the colder wealth
er al the shipmelts, Of course. are made
by rail
There are ss,gavs some growers who
hold their crop CT onions until well lrto
the winter or even the ,prirg. While
there is a possit y. Of loss by freezing,
ard certainly some loss by roitin9 ard
always some shrintaae, there are ncw
fIi then onion markets IN the spring
time that are simply golden in theiI
chances OF easy wealth for the man who
has onions to sell II was recent af-
fair here that a group OF Scott eourts
onion raisers held hack their crop until
the severe weather was past. The fall
market had been about 35 cents a bush
ei In the spring they got their onions
of with no heavy shrinksre on theii
hands at a price around s1.25. There
have been other years when the stock
af late onions went still higher. II Ii