The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-11-18
BEAT CABBAGE AS A CROP
Kenosha and Racine County Farmers
Are Declared to Be Among the Larg-
est Raisers of Onions In Country
Many Grown in Wisconsin,

been realized from the onion crop this
year than ever before. Piper Bros.
and Hansche Bros, out in the town of
Somers. are undoubtedly the heaviest
growers in the state. Thousands of
bushels have been harvested, the mar
ket prices have been right and small
fortunes have been made. Besides the
thousands of bushels that have been
sold there are stored thousands of
bushels more in the store houses on
the farms
F. B. Swingle, undoubtedly one of
the best posted and most reliable men
along the lines of agricultural affairs,
recently made trip through the onion
district, and has written a very inter
esting and instructive article on this
industry.
Comparatively few of us have ever
grown as area of onions as only about
one acre in a thousand of our cultivat-
ed farms is planted to onions. To
growers who understand the business,
however, large profits have come this
year and Racine and Kenosha county
men have shared well in the division, -
says Mr.. Swingle.
"Other. seasons, too, have brought
wo0es r. to otir grow - II -
sect IN, at 1915 was u,1asualls favor
able, because of the absence of onion
pests and because the abundant rain
fall kept the crop growing well with
out check, all through the summer.
Added to this, the prices were also
favorable and the yields of six humid
red bushels per acre in the best onion
areas of the state brought the operators
"a gross income of 1920 an acre.
"The prices for which large per-
centage of the Wisconsin crop was con-
tracted this year was around seventy
cents per bushel on the cars, at the
Wisconsin points. Thousands of bush
els Of these were bought by Ohio
dealers who we're disappointed by
the flooding out of the bulk of the
crop in that state.
"These dealers travelled through
several states in search of supply to
take the place of the lost Ohio crop,
and they make the statement that in
no state outside of Massachusetts was
there found supply of onions equal
in quality to the Badger state crop
this year. Ours were also so uniform in
size that comparatively few culls were
graded out of the commercial stock.
"The Southport Red Globe" the
variety most commonly grown in the
famous trucking section on Lake
Michigan, between Milwaukee and Ke-
nosha, brought particularly gratifying
results this season. Some growers re-
port as high as seven hundred bushels
per acre from crops of this variety,
which is heavy crop on felss of
large area
Frequent rains made the cultiva-
tion and wedding item higher than the
average in the 1915 season, but this
was not so important as the freedom
from thrips resulting from the same
conditions. A great part of the work
with wheel hoes was this year re-
placed by small tractor This was
an experiment which proved out well,
as the little tractor pulled six row
cultivator, and did the work of twelve
or fifteen men all through the cuiti-
waiting season, paying for itself the
first year. 1t is also used in seeding
and other light work.
"Ten counties of the United States
produce about one-third of our annual
onion crop. Orange county, New York,
has yield of nearly FIVE hundred
bushels per acre on the average in the
entire county. Wisconsin grows about
$4,000 bushels of 1920 acres. Brown
county last reported her crop as
1892 bushels from 283 acres. Mil
waukee, Kenosha, Racine and WauLe.,
sha counties are also heavy onion
producers.