1398 The Vegetable Industry of New York State 



After the crop is harvested there comes the great problem of 

 disposing of it. Whether to sell from the field or place in 

 storage and wait for an advance in price, is the problem. The 

 onion reports are of value, but it is a very wise man indeed who 

 can tell anything about what the market will be. 



Unless the grower has his own storehouse there must be a 

 great advance in price in order to make the storing profitable, for 

 the cost of storage and the shrinkage in weight will soon wipe out 

 all the profits there may appear to be in an increase of price per 

 bushel. 



COST OF GROWING THE CROP, AND YIELD 



The cost of growing an acre of onions is about $135.00. Some- 

 times a thousand bushels will be grown on an acre, although eight 

 hundred bushels is considered a good crop. The average price per 

 bushel received by the grower for the last ten years is about 50 

 cents, so that one can reasonably expect a net income of two or 

 three hundred dollars from each acre. 



DIFFICULTIES 



An old Irishman who had grown onions for years, when asked 

 what effect a flood would have upon a crop, replied, " Inion3, 

 inions, little divils, you can't kill 'em ! " But there are several 

 things that may reduce the yield to a point where it ceases to be 

 profitable. The chief troubles are the maggot, thrip and blight. 



The maggot appears upon the scene very early. When the 

 plants are only three or four inches high one of them may seem 

 wilted. Investigate, and two or three maggots may be found in 

 the plant. These maggots would develop into flies which would 

 lay eggs from which maggots would be hatched and so on all 

 summer, and every maggot takes its toll from the onion crop. To 

 prevent the maggot, some recommend the use of kainite, others 

 salt; but while these may discourage the maggot somewhat, it 

 is doubtful if they are very beneficial. 



The thrip comes next and makes its presence known by the 

 spotted appearance of the stalk. Nothing has been found as yet 

 that is effective in fighting this pest. 



A little later comes the blight. The tips of the stalks turn 

 brown, and gradually the entire stalk becomes brown, the bulb 



