79 



STATEMENT CONCERNING A CROP OF ONIONS RAISED BY 

 JOHN H. GEORGE IN THE TOWN OF METHUEN. 



Methuen, Mass., Oct., 1896. 



The crops of 1894 and 1895 were onions, the fertilizer 

 used was the Stockbridge Special Onion Fertilizer, and 

 each year there was applied ^ ton on the i acre. This 

 year (1896) I applied 1,500 lbs. or at the rate of 1| tons 

 per acre ; the ground was ploughed in the fall of 1895 : in 

 the spring of 181; 6 it was harrowed with spike tooth har- 

 row, brushed with birch brush harrow, dragged and then 

 sowed ; the fertilizer was applied with a machine belong- 

 ing to a neighbor, the maker's name to me unknown or I 

 should like to give it here, as it is one of the most labor- 

 saving machines I ever used. 



The seed used was Yellow Globe Danvers, bought of 

 Warren Barker, Danvers, Mass. The seed was sown 

 April 20tli and my memoranda say the land was in prime 

 condition. I used a Blake machine. The rows were 10 

 inches between and I sowed on the ^ acre 3^ lbs. of seed. 

 It came up finely and grew wonderfully until June 2nd 

 when the maggots began to get in their work and for a 

 month it was nip and tuck between fertilizer and maggots, 

 with fertilizer ahead in the home stretch. 



They were hoed live times, weeded four times, cut up 

 with a circu'ar wheel hoe, picked up into 1^ bushel crates 

 and stored in onion house. 



The yield was 363 bushels on the half acre or at the 

 rate of 726 bushels per acre, of most excellent quality, 

 good size and no scullions. This is the third year they 

 have been grown on Stockbridge Special Onion Fertilizer 

 on the same giound. 



The cost of the crop is as follows : 



