11 



the grower has is when the onions begin to die, and on pulHng 

 them up he finds the maggot, sometimes four or five in a single 

 stock. A little extra heavy seeding and keeping the plants 

 growing as rapidly as possible is about all one can do in this 

 case. 



Another serious insect enemy is the thrips, and here the best 

 remedy is irrigation, as this is a dry-weather trouble. The 

 writer has seen a field covered with thrips and looking as though 

 a fire had run over it, while just across the road was a field as 

 green and healthy as one could wish, simply because of irriga- 

 tion. The thrips is an insect that appears in dry weather and 

 sucks the juice out of the tops of the onions, always starting 

 on the knolls and spreading very rapidly. In practically every 

 instance the crop will stop growing at whatever stage it hap- 

 pens to be. 



On some old fields a disease known as smut has appeared and 

 caused trouble. One partial remedy is to use formaldehyde 

 diluted 1 gallon to 50 of water and applied at the time of 

 sowing the seed. A 2-gallon tank is attached to the seed sower 

 with a small hose or lead pipe running down under it and 

 running a small stream of the mixture directly into the seed. 



Irrigation. 

 Up and down the valley are different growers who are ex- 

 perimenting with irrigation on the onion fields, and so far re- 

 ports are favorable. This will obviate the trouble of the seed 

 and fertilizer blowing off in the spring, and is believed to be 

 a remedy for the thrips; but most important of all is the fact 

 that the grower who irrigates can control the supply of mois- 

 ture and so increase his crop. The system used is the overhead 

 one, and the cost of installation will range from $150 to $200 

 per acre, depending on the area and the amount of labor that 

 the grower can do or furnish. Instances will be found where 

 absolutely reliable men say that the system has paid for 

 itself the first year. 



Cost of Growing. 

 It is comparatively easy to figure the cost of raising native 

 onions. The crop should be charged with whatever equally 

 good land could be rented for; then there is the cost of plowing, 



