SEED-TIME ATO HARVEST. 
23 
Onion Seeds. 
Dt*. T. H. Hoskins, of Vermont, in an ex¬ 
tended series of articles upon Trucking, in 
the Mirror and Farmer, give the following 
■ensible views in regard to the essentials of 
successful onion culture: 
It is foll\ to attempt anything in agricul¬ 
ture without attention to the quality of our 
seeds. This is of the first importance, 
whether it be grass or forage crops, grain 
and root crops, the vegetables of the gar¬ 
den or the flowers of the parterre, that we 
mean to grow. Just as ‘’blood will tell” in 
our live-stock, and is at the root of all suc¬ 
cess in that line, so good seed is the sine qua 
non of all farming, especially of truck- 
farming. With the onion there is no suc¬ 
cess possible without good seed, and here 
is the first beginning of all failure in grow¬ 
ing this crop. Not long ago one ot my 
townsmen was bragging in the spring how 
cheap he could buy his onion seed. He got 
a lot for about thirty cents a pound, and 
sold enough to his neighbors at fiity cents 
to more than clear the cost of what he 
pi tilted himself. He has not been very 
popular with his customers for that seed 
since, nor did he brag much of his own 
crop. 
. It is especially important in northern 
New England to get an early strain of the 
variety you propose to grow, and this is 
particularly true of the Yellow Globe Dan¬ 
vers, which is the popular market onion of 
New England, but it is a little too late, at 
its best, for the extreme North. Around 
Montreal and Quebec it is but little grown 
in comparison with a light red early vari¬ 
ety which is quite as good and sells just as 
well in those cities. It is vexatious to have 
to contend with foolish popular notions, 
but. at the same time, if we do not contend 
with them it is costly business. The red 
onions (though they cook even whiter and 
are every way as good, besides being better 
keepers) sell about, twenty-five per cent 
lower than the Yellow Globe Danvers. 
Besides this, the latter will give at least 
twenty-five per cent more bushels to the 
acre. The only “out” about t hem is that 
they are too late, and therefore we must 
have the earliest strain of seed procurable, 
plant the very first day possible, on the 
warmest land in the best condition, and 
neglect nothing that will promote their 
progress during the growing season, and 
their drying when pulled. 
Perhaps, with time and labor, the Yellow- 
Globe Danvers might be made earlier than 
it is by selection and great care in growing 
the seed as far north as possible; yet I 
think it doubtful, for in my experience, the 
seed here does not fill well or ripen well, 
even when the earliest and best bulbs are 
saved for seed; and our home grown seed is 
not as good or rt liable as the best we get 
from r liable eastern seedsmen. 
TWELFTH YEAR. 
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY, AT 
Farmers’ Club Hall, 
ELMIRA, N. Y. 
HE HUSBANDMAN of politnal econ¬ 
omy affecting the relations between agricultu¬ 
ral products and their ultimate markets, gener¬ 
al political questions, and the rights and privileges 
of that vast body of citizens. American Farmers, 
whose industry is the basis of all material prosperity. 
Its highest purpose is the elevation and en mbling of 
Agriculture through the higher a» d broader educa¬ 
tion of the men and women engaged in its pursuit. 
Each issue contains a full report of the proceedings 
of the 
ELMIRA 
Farmers’ Club! 
Also the Bulletins issued by the 
Hew York Agricultural Experiment Station, 
Its reports of the markets are prepared with grea$ 
care 
ITS ADVERTISING PAGES 
are scrupuously guarded against all announcements 
of a deceptive character, including medical adver¬ 
tisements. 
Terms, ONE DOLLAR Per Year. 
A club of ten, with cash payment of ten dollars, 
entitles the sender to an extra copy. Specimen num¬ 
bers free. Address, 
10-1-J THE HUSBANDMAN, Elmira, N. Y. 
S LEADTU A A!W 'VrMnfithorougMt/tauqht 
an'LJott. 1 mail or personal!/, 
(tuations procured all P''P'>s when competent, 
end tor circular. W • C. CHAFFEE. Oswego, N. 
