4 
COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION 
PLOWING 
Plowing may be done in either fall or spring. If plowed in fall, it may 
'be done to a depth of eight inches. Where it is left till spring it is possibly 
better not to plow quite so deeply, or if deep plowing is done, packing <the 
soil should be accomplished in some way so as to make a firm seed bed. 
It seems to be the concensus of opinion among our most successful growers 
that six inches is about the right depth for plowing. The plow should be 
followed by a harrow. Most growers alternate between the hairow and a 
float made from plank, using these tools until a perfect, smooth seed bed 
results. 
The system of planting used will depend on whether the onions are 
to be irrigated by flooding or by ditches. Where flooding is done, the 
o/nioms are sown in rows about (twelve inches apart. The more common 
practice is to first make shallow ditches with a hand plow about 26 inches 
apart. These furrows are sometimes made, then, followed by a light float¬ 
ing of the land to level Ithe surface, leaving sufficient depressions in which 
to run water across 'the field. This leaves the land so that the spaces be¬ 
tween the furrows are slightly raised. The seed are then sown, making 
two rows between the ditches. These rows are 12 to 14 inches apart respec¬ 
tively, the wider space being the ditched row. Considerable care is necessary 
in marking out the land and in sowing to keep both ditches and rows 
straight and even. The usual practice is to run a marker where the fissues 
are to be made. These markers are simply home-made, wooden frames 
with three or four legs that will make marks 26 inches apart when hauled 
across the field by one man. Several types of seeders are used, as the Iron 
Age, Planet Junior, etc. There seems to be considerable difference of opin¬ 
ion as to the relative merits of the different seeders, but as each kind is 
championed by different growers, it is evident that they all have their 
advantages and are probably inearly equal in efficiency. Where the rows of 
onions are made to conform with the ditches previously made, there is less 
danger of getting the rows out of line, as each ditch aids as a correction 
on the seeder. Seed are sown from one-half to five-eighths inches deep. 
From three to four or four and a half pounds of seed are used per acre. 
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEED 
The importance of good seed cannot be over-estimated. Our experi¬ 
ments and observations in the field have demonstrated quite conclusively 
that no one factor will make for the success or failure to so great an ex¬ 
tent as that of quality of seed and varieties adapted to conditions. In both 
the Olathe and Greeley districts the majority of growers are producing their 
own seed. There is probably a great deal in the acclimatization of seed for 
Colorado conditions as to its real value to the grower. At Olathe we 
found the most successful growers had been producing their own seed for 
from ten to sixteen years. These strains were the results of careful selec¬ 
tion of bulbs for seed stock so that for these series of years nothing but 
the very best types of the variety bad been saved. The results of this 
selection for acclimatization were shown when last year in making a test 
of these seed at the Experiment Station gardens at Fort Collins, in com¬ 
parison with the best strain of seed obtainable from eastern seed- 
men. These seed, which were what is known at Olathe as the Yellow 
Globe Danvers, but what is probably a cross between Yellow Globe Dan- 
ers and Brown Australian, were sown at the same time as varieties of 
Red Globe, Yellow Globe, Danvers Red Weathersfield, White Globe and 
Prizetaker. The season of 1912 was rather unfavorable in the Fort Collins 
district, as the temperature averaged lower than usual with rather heavy 
precipitation, which made the onion crop late and produced a large per¬ 
centage of so-called thick-necks. In the fall we found a difference of 
more than three weeks in time of maturity in favor of Colorado grown 
and selected seed. Another factor in favor of home grown seed is that 
the grower may be absolutely sure, not only of the purity of his seed, but 
of the variety, where if the seed are purchased from any of the seedmen, 
