FERRY'S SEEDS 



THE STORY OF OUR 

 ONION SEED 



Sorting onion bulbs at our 

 Seed Breeding Station. Many 

 of our onion varieties are the 

 result of increase from a single 

 perfect bulb. The quahty of 

 these strains is maintained 

 from year to year by careful 

 hand sorting of the bulbs used 

 to produce our seed crops. 

 These bulbs planted in 

 California during December 

 send up seed stalks and in early 

 summer are in full bloom. 



This is a field on our River 

 Ranch near Sacramento, Cali- 

 fornia, in the month of June. 

 The onions are just passing 

 out of bloom. The seed is 

 usually ripe the last of July. 

 In these rich delta lands of 

 the Sacramento river, onions 

 are very prolific, and the 

 bulbs frequently produce 

 twelve to sixteen seed stalks. 





Washing the ripe onion seed. 

 The onion heads are threshed 

 either with a machine especi- 

 ally built, or by rolling out 

 on canvas sheets. After 

 threshing, the seed is sifted 

 and run through fanning 

 mills. But since it is impos- 

 sible to clean the seed thor- 

 oughly without washing, it 

 is poured into vats of water 

 where the light seed and 

 blossoms float while the good 

 seed sinks. It is then spread 

 out to dry under ideal natural 

 conditions. 



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