Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-05-02

The despised bst delicious onion may
not he an arisirDcrst auong vegetables but
Is entitled 90 rank among the grcAt wealth
producers % the agricultural world Tho
onion crop l. among the most profitable SO
al the product % American farms eNres
ence having demonstrated that onions un-
Ger proper conditions will yield ne, profit
~ $50 per acre Thus farm which would
produce q net profit of SNe an acre tn wheat
would yield fifteen times as much " planted
IN onions 4 hundred -acrc field Of the very
best land under the very best conditions
would yield a profit Of t2Ooo from cereals
In onions il would WELD SN.In But for
tunatelv for the onion market. The land
particularly sdapted TO onion culture is
limited IN extent.
The census now being taken Tor the
United States probably will show q yield
81 Is Ono olo bushels Of onions In the census
~ lFoo New York produced more than any
other state IN the union. 50 concentrated
was the onion growing industry that one
half Of the entire onion yield was produced
by twenty-five out Of the more than 2oO
counties in the United states. Texas is
now becoming one OF the most prominent
producers Of onion among the states In
fact the orion has proved TO be something
az an empire builder there. In the Browns
willie region, where only a decade ago the
rural districts were almost unpeopled. to-
day there is a population Of fully lct0co
and they are making the land Flow with
the milk and honey Of wealth derived
mainly from the growing OF the mild flaw
ored Bermuda onion.
T G. Nye ~ Laredo IS known as the
onion King OF the Rio Grande. Hts farm
Yields at least 20Ooo pounds OF onions to
the acre The entire yield 81 that small
district, compr.sius 100 acres is said to
approximate 24OO0 600 pounds The crop is
sold al such prices as 20 yield a net profit
Of s4Soooo or $500 to the acre. MI Nye for
four years has set aside five Acres FOR the
growing OF Bermuda onions. and has kept
a careful record OF ali his financial tran
sactions growing out OF his onions on these
five acres This account shows that with
good. bad and Indifferent seasons his land
has netted him profit Of $50 in four
years.
The fslapd OF Bermuda Is now the
worlds most concentrated onion growin
region Its prosperity and its financial
depressions are determined by the status
Of its onion crop. Bermuds's other crop
is the Easter lily. out Of which II makes
profit Of hundreds OF thousands OF dol
lars every year. strange as 1t may seem,
these two industries are very closely al
lied. the Easter lily being a cousin-Ger-
man to the onion. They both belong TO
the album family. Of which there are some
80 different branches.
II is said that the onion is probably the
first vegetable ever cultivated by man. As
far back as civilization goes its literature
reveals the cultivated status Of the onion
Holy Writ itself tells US that the children
Of Israel in their sorrowful wanderings
through the desert remembered the fish
We did eat freely the cucumber and the
melons and the leeks and the onions and
the garlic and longed for them again.
To this day the onion Of Egypt IS still
known by the name by which Israel called
it-"batzel The oldest OF Chinese rec
ords show that the onion was a cultivated
plant and botanists have traced II back
TO the table lands of the Hindu Kush
mountains, the very cradle OF the human
race.
In the cultivation Of the onion for gener-
ations il has been the custom to grow
them directly from the seed; but in re-
cent years a new order OF onion culture
has sprung up. BY this method the seeds
are started in hot houses or cold frames
and when they have reached sufficient
growth they are transplanted into the
onion beds. To transplant few hundred
bulbs is not a formidable task. but when
one goes TO set 10000 bulbs on an acre
he has a job on hand 1t exceeds all the
remainder Of the labor Of onion growing
and selling put together. good boy can
set out 5000 plants day, while nimble-
fingered person accustomed TO garden
work will easily set out 500. 1t requires
about twenty-five days work to set out
an acre in onions by the transplanting
method.
The experiment stations of the various
states have demonstrated the advantage OF