The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-02-06
SAYS UTAH ONION
BEATS THE WORLD
H. 0. Heath Declares He Holds
the Worlds Record for
Crop and Value.
CLAIMS AVERAGE OF 1000
BUSHELS AN ACRE YEARLY
States That He Once Raised
1850 Bushels From 1902
Square Rods of Land.


"Utah is the greatest state III the
Union in which to raise onions, said
Henry o. Heath of l53 West Sixth
South street yesterday. Mr.. Heath was
born and brought up in Salt Lake City
and has been hero fifty years, most of
which time he has spent IN filling
Utah g rich soil He claims TO have
raised the largest crop of onions per
unit of ground ever grown in the world,
and the largest total yield over pc
Rod of years from single piece Of
ground. Many old time Salt Lakers
bear him out in this. and it is ono of
the regrets of Mr.. Heath g life that
he did not AT the time take the proper
measures 10 put ,.his record breaking
crop Of onions officially on record.
Mr. Heath claims TO have raised in
1898, the year of the Chicago world IS
fair, 1850 bushels of Spanish Globe
onions on l02 square rods Of ground,
where is now the saucer track at the
Salt Palace in this city. This figures
out at the rate of I6I7 bushels per
acre, Mr.. Heath says that if his crop
had come two weeks earlier he would
have taken The first prize at the world s
fair against all the world On this
same piece of land Mr.. Heath claims
to have averaged in onions at tho rate
of 1000 bushels IN acre a year for ten
years without crop failure. The rec
ord breaking crop, Mr.. Heath says, was
entirely Of large onions, and out of the
Sholo Of
acre there was not half bushe! of
pickle (smalD onions.
Are Record Yields.
Salt Lake for fifteen years back has
been about u cents per pound, or
about 50 cents per bushel, figuring
lifty-siX pounds 10 the bushel,' said
Mr. Heath. ''In Salt Lake. however, l
have seen onions sell AS high as 6 cents
pound. Fortunately we had large
crop that year and did quite we'll with
1000 bushels per acre at So cents a.
bushel for fifteen years, we took in an
average Of $3.50 per acre on onions.
This beats all world S records that l
know OF, both i'll yield for a single
year. for fifteen straight years and for
income per acre, both on single crop
and for the fifteen years. Onions are
=
''We fertillzed at the rate of about
100 wagonloads per acre and planted
seed, not sets. Our seed came from some
very large prize Spanish Globe onions,
and then we raised our own seed.
We rloughed in the fall, fortified
in the winter, so as not to tramplo the
ground. and planted as early as pos
siblo in the spring. To get a good
crop of onions the ground must be
worked very fine and be as smooth rs
possible We planted in rows from
fourteen 10 sixteen inches apart and
from onc-half to three quarters of an
inch deep.
:" Before planting VIC foatcd our seed
on water SO as to remove all dead seed.
The live seed sinks to the bottom OF
the water and the worthless seed floats
and is easily removed. We then dried
the good seed as quickly as possible |
and planted it from three TO four
pounds to the acre.
Seed is worth about 50 per pound
and the fertilizer about 81 per load, |
Thus an acre in onions represents about |
500 an acre, not counting the work, |
] suppose 500 an acre would represent
the crop in place, work and all.
Keep Weeds Down.
"Wceds are the hardest question.
They have TO be kept down from the
very start, IL allowed to grow and
are then pulled. they bring up the
ground and the onion roots and kill
out part of the crop. We used TO run
Il sharp knife along the top of the rows
ground and before the onions reached |
daylight. This killed tho weeds and
did not hurt the onions. Another way
we did was TO throw a fuITow up over /
the onion row, and after the weeds had |
started threw it back into the empty |
furrow. This killed all weeds and
also caused all the Jumps To roll away
furrow.
"Oniou tops should never be rolled
as they do in England, The bigger the
ton and the higher, the larger the
onion Never cut off tho tops when
the crop. Onions keep bet
the onions from touching and affecting
each other. We sometimes left tho
onions in the ground till spring They
frozc aud kept all winter in Guc shape
Freezing does not hurt onions il the
air and sun does not get to them when
they thaw out. Let them thaw iu the
dark and everything is all right.
"Growing onions will stand frost
but not actual freezing. Plant as early
rs possible and keep the weeds down
and use plenty of fertilizer. Give
them lots of water, a constant steady
supply Never let them get dry or
the growth is stopped. Lice, or wecvil,
are almost as bad on onions us arc
weeds aud lack OF water. Hold a black
hat under the tops and shake them,
and il there are any lice on them they
will show on the black hat One can.
not see them on the plant itself
- few acres i'll onions will make a
man moderately rich from n small be
ginning aud give him time 10 himself
in the winter But he has 10 work,
long and hard in the summer If he
wants a good crop, and here is where
the money is made.
New Receiver.
In the case Of w ] Burke against thc