El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-05
TRANSPLANTING IS
BEST FOR ONIONS
Experiment Station at State
College Issues Bulletin
on Onion Cnlt11re-

State College, N NJ, Sept 5.-The ex-
pertinent station has conducted expert
transplanting from a seeded to the
field and by planting the seed in the
field where the onions were to grow,
and when large enough, thinning them
In the row to the proper distance. It
has been found that, everything con-
sidered, the transplanting plan is the
best and most economical The thin
ming of onions in the field beds is eX-
ceedingly tedious and expensive, under
out method of irrigation. Aside from
the extra work and cost of thinning,
there are always considerably more
weeds In these beds, which make 1t
necessary to start wedding earlier and
more frequently. In the termination
of onion seed under field conditions
small they may be, where the seed fails
to come up. In these vacant places
onions must be transplanted, in order
to have uniform stand in the row.
In order to grow onions by the trans
planting method, the seed must be
started in the fall or winter. The re-
suits at the experiment station show
that the best seeding period is compar-
atiYely short. That is to say, if the
seed is planted too early, most of the
plants Will go to seed the following
summer If, on the other hand, the
seed is planted too late, the young
plants will not be large enough for
tranSplanting at the proper time in
the spring. This best period of seed
pertinent station, from about the goth
of September to the 10th of October.
The practice at the station is to plant
the seed in the field Seedbeds about
the last of September. This period of
starting the seed may vary a little,
according &c the altitude and climatic
conditions If different parts of the
state. The grower should, however,
keep il mind not to start the seed too
early or toe late, or else the plants will
either go to seed or not be large
enough for transPlanting at the prop
er time in the spring.
The preparation of the seeded is Of
much Importance. The land should be
plowed thoroughly, and disked or
as level as possible. 1t is best not
to have the beds or plats too large
1t the soil is somewhat light 1t is ad-
vised that a light dressing Of well
disked in before the seed is planted.
The seed can be drilled in rows about
four inches apart This is best done
by using a garden drill, such as the
Planet Junior. Great care should be
taken in regard to the depth. If it
were possible under field conditions, it
would be best to have the seed about
one-half inch in depth. Since this is
n hard matter to do, three-quarters to
one inch depth should be the limit I'm
mediately after planting the seed it
should be irrigated, to produce germin-
alton. As a rule, another irrigation is
given the platS while the plants are
coming through and before termination
is completed. During the winter two
or three irrigations may be given the
seeded. The number Of these irriga-
tons will depend upon the winter
whether it is dry or wet. If the ger
mination were ideal and everything
went on all right during the winter, we
could probably count on three pounds
of seed producing enough plants for
one acre; but to be on the safe side in
practice. we usually count on four to
five pounds of seed. The winter tenn
peratures in the MeSilla valley do not
injure the little onion plants. During
the last two winters they have stood a
zero temperature without material in
jury.
In the Mesilla valley it is the prac-
tice to transplant from the first to
the 18th of March. Transplanting at
this time gives the best results. The
later the transplanting is done the
poorer the results. The old rule in re-
gard to the proper size of onions for
transplanting was that the onion was
ready for transplanting when it was
as large as a pencil. This rule does
not have to be followed in the trans
planting of this crop in this climate,
as all of the onions are transplant
long before they are that large. Of
tentimes when they are not more than
twice as large as a toothpick.
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