10 
SEED-TIME AND HARVEST. 
ONIONS A MONEY CROP. 
Connecticut fanners who live in the 
more unfavored portions of the State are 
obliged to practice mixed farming and 
resort to all means for obtaining the mon¬ 
ey necessary to meet ordinary farm ex¬ 
penses, taxes, etc. However much farming 
may be lauded, it must be understood that 
all do not recline on beds of flowery ease, 
for many are subject to toil and fatigue. 
Tolland County is largely made up of the 
class who diligently toil on from year to 
year, many saving up a little ‘‘against a 
'rainy day.” While potatoes are grown to 
a considerable extent, the surplus being 
sold, there are many towns, of which Col¬ 
umbia is one, that place considerable de¬ 
pendence upon the onion crop as a sure 
source of revenue to the farm. 
To those who seldom or never engage in 
onion culture, it presents a sort of terror 
on account of the belief that a great amount 
of labor is required; but in those who vear 
after year have been accustomed to tend 
a patch of onions, no such feeling exists; 
for if such an opinion was true there could 
not be found, as is the case now, many in¬ 
stances in which the culture has been con¬ 
tinuous for a period of 25 years, and in 
some cases for a longer period. The suc¬ 
cess of onion culture depends wholly upon 
the attention bestowed, and it will be 
found eminently true that “a stitch in time 
saves nine.” A good degree of fertility of 
soil is a necessity, and a liberal yearly ap¬ 
plication of any thoroughly decomposed 
manure is equally so; The preparation of 
the soil is also important; it should be 
thoroughly pulverized and free from all 
that would interfere with the culture, 
which becomes easier in proportion to the 
extent of this attention. 
It is a difficult matter to exactly estimate 
the cost per bushel of growing onions, 
because much depends upon the character 
of the season, since the amount of care 
required to prevent the growth of weeds 
may be very much increased or diminished 
according to the atmospheric conditions. 
From a record bearing upon this point in 
which every hour’s labor is recorded at its 
full value, and in which the value of ma¬ 
nure expended, rent of land, etc., ai*e all 
counted in, the cost of growing onions va¬ 
ried from 20 to 421 cents per bushel. In one 
instance the cost was 29 cents; in another 
30 cents; in another 36 cents, and in another 
42£ cents per bushel. This leaves a yery 
agreeable margin even when onions sell for 
a fair price; for it must be remembered 
that the labor has all been paid for at high 
prices. The year in which the cost of grow¬ 
ing was 29 cents per bushel, the price va¬ 
ried from $1.50 to $2 00 per bushel, prob¬ 
ably averaging $1.75 which would leave 
$1.36 net per bushel for the entire crop, or 
at the rate of $860 per acre. But that was 
an unusually favorable year both in yield 
and price, and a similar year can hardly be 
looked for. But take even the most expen¬ 
sive culture—421 cents per bushel—and the 
average price per bushel for the past few, 
years, which has not varied much from one 
dollar, and there would still be a net profit 
of about 38 cents per bushel, which, allow¬ 
ing for the very moderate yield of 500 
bushels per acre, would give a net income 
of $190 per acre. 
Wethersfield has always been noted for 
onion growing, and has probably more 
acres under cultivation than most other 
towns; but of late it has done a large busi¬ 
ness in growing onion seed and is now 
abandoning the growing of the bulbs. The 
shore towns between New Haven and 
New York are at present quite extensively 
engaged in onion culture and realize large 
profits from their land in consequence.— 
W. II. Yeomans , in Rural New-Yorker. 
The Difference. 
Oh, the sun will never tan you 
If your face is covered well; 
And it seldom rains upon you 
If you have an umberel. 
And a friend will not forsake you 
If you prosper day by day; 
And a mule will never kick you 
If you always keep away. 
But—and this is wdiere the-hitch is, 
For you’ve noticed it is so— 
Your proboscis always itches 
If your hands are in the dough. 
—If you don't get the $200 prize you may get $100. 
