THE IRRIGATION AGE. 217 



Rocky Ford cantaloupes do nicely here when there is no rain. I 

 got $500 out of an acre and a half last summer, but when there is lots 

 of rain the cophiz destroys them. Irrigation will produce a splendid 

 plant growth, but is not so successful in growing insects and bugs. 



People looking at my present onion patch say, "What a nice stand 

 you have." When I dug up the plants in December I had them care- 

 fully sorted and only replanted those of uniform size, so each one 

 would have an equal show, one with the other. I generally put about 

 80,000 plants on an acre. My land being alluvial without a clay sub- 

 soil I am compelled to use the flooding system to irrigate. Beds are 

 12 feet by 150, with a border between each bed, consequently the bor- 

 der wastes at least two rows per each border, so when the outside 

 measure of an acre is taken there is really not an acre in it. The 

 rows are 14 inches apart and plants from 5 to 6 inches in the drill. 



These Bermuda onion seed are grown in the Canary Islands, We 

 plant as soon as they arrive, which is generally about October 1, and 

 transplant at the age of two months. By the middle of April they 

 are mature and ready for shipment. One advantage we have here in 

 growing onions, and it is no small one either, is that in growing them 

 in the winter months we hadly ever have to weed the rows, the 

 Planet, Jr., cultivators keeping everything down between the rows. 

 By the time the weeds come the plants are so large and strong that 

 the weeds and grass in the row make little showing, so we save that 

 expense. But the greatest advantage of all is the time at which our's 

 mature. The onions on hand in April and May were matured in Sep- 

 tember, and as soon as they come out of the cellars and strike warmer 

 air, go to sprouting, and are no longer of any value, and there are no 

 onions to compete with our. Competition is a fine thing for the con- 

 sumer, but very thin for the producer. 



The Bermuda onion crop was generally killed out in Texas in De- 

 cember by the cold weather, except here and at Cotulla, which is 65 

 miles north. They are grown there by irrigation same as here, and I 

 don't believe that they can be successfully grown in any part of Texas 

 without irrigation. The month of October, which is the time to plant 

 the seed, is generally the dry month of Texas, even in localities where 

 the rainfall is from 50 to 75 inches annually; the young plants need 

 water every ten days in October. My crop last season was grown 

 from transplanting time on with seven waterings and cost $1.50 per 

 acre for each watering or 810.50 total, but there was not a single dry 

 norther last season. 



Convincing circumstances prove that it will be a long time before 

 the growing of onions here can be overdone; there will be about 20 

 car loads grown here and at Cotulla this season, and 100 car loads 

 could have been taken care of just as easily. 



