Vegetable Growing in Colorado. 21 
six or eight days. They are then put in sacks and sold, or they 
may be placed in storage. 
Storing .—In storage, they are either put in crates or placed 
on racks in layers eight or ten inches deep. A dry frost-proof 
storage house is necessary. The temperature is kept just above the 
freezing point, or if the bulbs can be frozen at the beginning of 
winter and not allowed to thaw out again until spring, and then 
very gradually, they will keep very well. When stored, onions 
should be very carefully handled or they will not keep well. They 
must not be handled while frozen and even the jarring of the build¬ 
ing should be guarded against. 
Seed Production .—Some growers in Colorado have found it 
to their advantage to produce their own seed. The method followed 
is this: At harvest time, the best bulbs of the desired variety are 
selected in the field and put in storage. The following spring these 
bulbs are set six inches apart and four or five inches deep in rows 
two and a half feet apart. They are given clean cultivation and in 
July send up flower stalks two and a half to three feet high. As 
the seed mature, the stalks are cut and placed on canvas to dry, 
after which they may be separated by using a flail and then running 
through a fanning mill to remove the chaff and light worthless 
seed. 
PARSNIPS. 
The soil for parsnips should be rich and deeply prepared. Be¬ 
fore planting, the surface should be thoroughly fined, as the seed 
are rather slow to germinate, and the young seedlings very delicate. 
The seed are planted as early in the season as possible, in rows 18 
to 24 inches apart. Plant about ten seeds to the foot and cover not 
more than one inch deep. The plants should be thinned to stand 
three or four inches apart in the row when well up. Cultivate fre¬ 
quently during the growing season, keeping down weeds and main¬ 
taining a surface mulch. 
The roots will be ready for use by September, but they have 
not the quality then that they have later in the season. Parsnips 
are considered to have a better flavor if subjected to frost and they 
may be allowed to remain in the ground over winter, in which case 
they should be protected with a light mulch of some kind. 
PEAS. 
The growing of peas for canning purposes is of considerable 
importance in Colorado. They are adapted to most all sections of 
the state and are grown extensively in the northern part of the state 
