SOME FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES. 



21 



Standard onions, of whatever kind, can be marketed 

 only as such, and extraordinary size usually has little 

 influence upon the price. The time of marketing, 

 however, is of the utmost importance. If we put our 

 crop on the market in the fall, when the bulk of the 

 crop is marketed, we must expect the ordinary (usually 

 lowest) prices of that season. Our experience this 

 year shows us this one great advantage of our new 

 method with ordinary varieties, that we can get them 

 ready for market at a time when we have next to no 

 competition in our local market. 



We grew a little patch of Large Yellow Puget Sound 

 (a handsome solid variety of the Yellow Dutch type). 

 White Globe, etc., and these, being ready for market in 

 August, met with ready sale at $i per bushel. Onions 

 of the same quality in October and November sold at 

 only 50 or 60 cents a bushel. Even if it were true, as 

 some claim, that the transplanting method involves 

 more labor than the old way, we would still find it to be 

 labor that pays exceedingly well. As it nearly doubles 

 the proceeds from the crop, we could afford to pay out 

 quite a good deal for the slight extra work necessary. 

 Our experience this year, however, only confirms that 

 of last year, namely, that the additional labor of trans- 

 planting the onions is more than offset by the smaller 

 amount of weeding and of cultivation required in the 

 new method as compared with the old one. 



This feature of the new onion culture is of advantage 

 in another respect. It extends the season of onion con- 

 sumption, and therefore widens the entire field for the 

 onion-grower s operations. Even the grower who con- 

 cludes that it would be best for him to stick to the 

 "good old way" for his general crop must find it a 

 good thing to grow at least a portion of his crop to be 

 marketed in midsummer, when prices are high. 



The Prize-taker onion requires a rather long season. 

 In some cases, if planted extra early, the crop may be 

 ready for market in advance of the general crop of the 

 country. But whenever ready, we still have it in our 

 power to put good bulbs upon the market in such a 

 shape that we are sure of an extra price. Our experi- 

 ence fully proves this, and makes us confident that it 

 will be possible to crowd the imported Spanish onions 

 out of our markets to quite an extent by means of 

 Prize-takers put up in a similar style. 



We have had a crate of Prize-takers photographed. 

 The crate is similar to the one in which the imported 

 Spanish onions are put up. End and middle pieces are 

 7 inches wide and 19 '.^ inches long ; the slats which form 

 the sides, as shown, are 19^ inches long and 2 inches 

 wide, and there are 16 of them required for each crate. 

 We put up a large share of our crop in such crates, 

 the smaller and more imperfect bulbs only being shipped 

 in sugar barrels of four bushels each. The former sold 

 readily at $1 per crate, the latter more slowly at $2.50 

 per barrel In other words, a bushel shipped in crates 

 brought about $1.25, a bushel shipped in barrels about 

 60 cents. The crates cost us about 15 cents apiece; 

 but we think that by substituting split stuff, such as the 



orange-growers use for their orange boxes, instead of 

 sawed slats, we will be able to have a large number 

 made for us, this winter, at not over 10 cents apiece. 

 Marketing his crop in this way, the grower may with 

 some degree of safety count on receiving nearly or fully 

 %\ per bushel for well-grown Prize-taker onions, and 

 this when ordinary onions are 50 cents per bushel. 



It will give an idea of the size of our onions to 

 state that the number of specimens contained in each 

 crate ranged from 52 to 60, only in rare cases reach- 

 ing the latter figure. The few large specimens in front 

 of the crate (see illustration) weighed about one and 

 one-fourth pounds apiece. A foot-rule appears lying 

 across the two at the right to show their diameter. 



Pickling Onions in Market. — " First in market " is 

 an excellent principle, not only in managing the ordi- 

 nary onion crop, as already mentioned, but also in 

 handling the pickling crop. Our patch contained the 

 Adriatic Barletta, New Queen, Round Pickling, and 

 Extra Early Pearl. Of these the Barletta is the small- 

 est and the earliest, ripening at the very beginning of 

 July. It must be sown thickly in the row, and the rows 

 can be quite close. The largest bulbs only reach an 

 inch in diameter. When well-cleaned and graded, a lot 

 of the Barletta presents a very attractive appearance, 

 and we found the demand for them much in excess of 

 the supply, and consequently prices all in the grower's 

 favor. We believe that on clean sandy soil this crop 

 can be made a profitable one. The New Queen, Round 

 Pickling and Extra Early Pearl appeared to be very 

 similar on our grounds, all ripening about two weeks 



Prize-taker Onions Crated for Market, 



later than Barletta, They also sold readily, although 

 much larger than the Barletta and giving a larger yield, 



La-Salle-on-Niagara, N. Y. 



