PROFIT OF GROWING ONIONS. 345 



tsmut, or other mildew parasites, must, in my opinion, be a preventive 

 one; that is, whenever practicable, use new land, or renew the old 

 land by a green crop, such as rye, timothy or millet, in all sections 

 subject to these diseases. The same plan had better be adopted in 

 all sections where the onion maggot, or other insects, attack the crop. 

 The theory for this practice is that it is believed that nearly all plants 

 affected by insects or disease, have such peculiar to themselves, and 

 that the germs lay in the soil ready to fasten on the same crop, if 

 planted without intermission on the same ground, while if a season 

 intervenes, the larva or germ has nothing congenial to feed on, and 

 is, in consequence, destroyed., In practice, we usually find that 

 cultivated land "rested" for a season by a grass crop gives always a 

 cleaner and healthier crop to whatever vegetable following it. 



THE PRODUCT 



of the average onion crop varies very much, ranging from 300 to 900 

 bushels per acre, the mean being about 600 bushels per acre. The 

 price is variable, like all perishable commodities, ranging from fifty 

 cents per bushel, the price at which they usually wholesale in the 

 New York market in fall, to $1 or $1.50 per bushel for winter and 

 spring prices. The estimate, then, of profit per acre may be given 

 about as follows: 



Manure, per acre $72 00 



Plowing, weeding and harvesting crop, per 



acre 100 00 



6 Ibs. seed, average, $2 per Ib 12 00 



Bent or interest on land, per acre 9 00 



Marketing crop, per acre 7 00 



$200 00 



600 bushels per acre, at 50c $300 00 



Cost 200 00 



Profit, $100 00 



This estimate is a moderate one, for if the crop is sold in spring, 

 the chances are that the profit may be two or three times as much. 



ONIONS SOLD GREEN. 



All the foregoing relates to the onion crop ripened, but in all large 

 cities immense quantities of onions are sold in the green state, many 

 of them before they have half attained their growth. To get the 



