400 
VEGETABLE GARDENING 
nailed to three-cornered vertical pieces of oak at each 
corner on the inside of the crate. When stacked in the 
storehouses (Figure 95) 1 x 3-inch strips are placed 
between them, to permit free circulation of the air. 
Although bags and bins are also used in storing onions, 
neither are as satisfactory as crates, because they do not 
allow so free a circulation of air and the space cannot be 
used so economically. 
542. Marketing. — The bulbs are usually separated into 
three grades: Primes, which include bulbs ij 4 inches in 
diameter and larger; seconds, which are from 24 inch to 
if4 inches in diameter; and picklers, which pass through 
a 24 -inch screen. 
Onions are marketed in a great variety of packages, 
as crates, bags, barrels and many different sizes and 
types of baskets. 
543. Yields and returns. — Yields from seed sown in 
the open ground vary from 300 to 1,000 or more bushels 
an acre, but it is very rare that more than 1,000 bushels 
an acre are obtained by this method, and seldom that 
900 to 1,000 are secured. Growers sometimes average 
600, although 500 bushels is a good yield. 
Estimates for the cost of growing vary extremely. 
Cost of production figures per acre published for Oregon 
conditions in 1917 were as follows: 
Seed 
Soil preparation 
Manure and commercial fertilizers 
Seeding 
Cultivating and Weeding 
Pulling 
Sacking 
Sacks 
Topping 
$ 7.00 
3.00 
50.00 
2.25 
25.00 
5.00 
12.00 
40.00 
8.00 
Total 
$ 15^5 
