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Show ' SAYS UTAH ONION BEATSTHEWORLD II. 0. Heafh Declares He Holds flic World's Record for Crop and Value. CLAIMS AVERAGE OF 1000 BUSHELS AX ACRE YEARLY Stales That He Once Raised 1050 Bushels From 102 Square Rods of Land. ""Utah is Iho greatest state in the Union in which lo raise onions,"' said Henry O. Heath of ir,:t West Sixth South street yesterday. Mr. Heath was born and brought up in Salt, Lake City and has been hero fifty years, most, of which time ho has spent in tilling Utah's rich soil. He claims to have raised tho largest crop of onions per unit of ground over grown in iho world, and tho largest total 3'ield over a period pe-riod of years from a single pieco of ground. Many old-timo Salt Lakers bear him out in this, and it is ono of the regrets of Air. Heath's life that he did not at the time take the rjroper measures to put; tis record-breaking crop of onions officially ou record. !Mr. Heath claim's to have raised in ISO.'!, the year of the Chicago world's fair, 10n0 bushels of Spanish Globe onions on JO" scpiaro rods of ground, where is now tho saucer track at the Salt liluco in this city. This figures out at the rate of 3G17 bushels per acre. Mr. Heath says that if his crop had como two weeks earlier he would have taken iho first prize, al the world's fair against all the world. On this same piece of land Mr. Heath claims to' havt; averaged in onions at; tho rata of 1000 bushels an acre a .year for ten years without, a crop failure. Tho record-breaking crop, Mr. Heath says, was entirely of large onions, and out of tho 1050 bushels from this fraction of an aero there was not a half bushel of picklo (small) onions. Arc Record yields. "Tho average price for onions in Salt Lako for fifteen years back has been about, l1 cents "per pound, or about 85 cents per bushel, figuring fifty-six pounds to tho bushel," said Mr." Heath. "In .Salt Lake, howover, t have scan onions soil as high as i cents ti pound. Fortunately .wo bad a large crop that .year and did quite well with it at such prices. At an average of 1000 bushels per acre al S5 cents a bushel for lift ecu years, wo took in an averago of $S50 per acre on onions. This beats all world's records that I know of, bdtb in yield for a singlo year, for fifteen straight years and for income per acre, both ou a single crop and for tho fifteen years. Onions aro better than apples in tho long ruu. "Wo icrtili'cd at; tho rale of about 150 wagonloads per acre and planted seed, not sets. Our seed came from soino very large pri.o Spanish Globe onions, and then we raised our own seed. ''Wo ploughed in tho fall, fertilized in Ihc winter, so as not to framplo the ground,' and planted as early as possible pos-sible in the spring. To got a good crop of onions tho ground must be worked vorv lino and be as smooth as possible. Wo planted in rows from fourteen lo sixteen inches apart and from one-half to three-quarters of an inch deep. "Before planting, we floaled our seed on water so as to remove all dead seed. The live seed sinks lo the bottom of the water and the worthless seed ilonts and is easily removed. "We then dried the good seed as quickly as possible and planted it from three to four pounds to the acre. "Seed is worth about $2 per pound and the fertilizer about $ per load. Thus an acre in onions represents about 400 an acre, not counting the work. 1 suppose 100 an acre would 'represent the crop in place, work and all. Keep Weeds Down. "Weeds are the hardest question. They have to bo kept down from tho very start. If allowed to grow and are then pulled, they bring up the ground and the onion roots ana kill out part of the crop We used to run a sharp knife along the top of tho rows after the weeds were just above tho ground and before the onions reached daylight. This killed tho weeds and did not, hurt the onions. Another way we did was to throw a furrow up over tho onion row, and after tho weeds had started threw it. back into the empty furrow. This killed all weeds ami also caused all tiie lumps lo roll away from the onions and into tho ditch or furrow. "Onion lops should 11 over bo 'rolled' as they do in England. The bigger the ton and "the highor, the larger the onion, Never cut off the tops when harvesting the crop. Onions keep better bet-ter with the tops on. The tops keep tho onions from touching and affecting each other. Wo sometimes left the onions in the grouml till spring. Thej' froze and kopt all winter in lino shape. Freezing does not hurt, onions if the air and 'sun does not got to them when they thaw out. Let I hem thaw iu the dark and everything is all right. "Growing onions will stand frost, but not actual freozing. Plant as early as possible and keep tho weeds down and , use plenty of fertilizer. Give them lots of water, a constant steady : supply. Xevor let them get dry or the growth is stopped. Lice, or weevil, arc almost as bad on onions as are weeds and Jack of water. Hold a black hat under tho tops and shake them, and if there aro any lice on them they will show on the black hat. One cannot can-not see them ou the plant itself. "A few acres in onions will make a . man moderately rich from a small beginning be-ginning and give him time to hiinse.lt" 1 in tho wiulor. But he has to work 1 long and hard in tho summer if ho ; wants a good crop, and here is where : Iho money is made.'' |