Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1911 — “STRONG” INDICATIONS AT NEWLAND. [ARTICLE]

“STRONG” INDICATIONS AT NEWLAND.

T. M. Callahan, big chief of Newland, was in the city Thursday on business. Things are looking quite favorable up in the onion district this spring. Tom is expectng to put out 25 or 30 acres of onions himself and. Ed Oliver, with whom Tom divides the honors of office, is going to put out 60 acres. Other growers will put out smaller fields. Tom has sold 600 pounds of onion seed and it takes about four pounds to the acre, which would indicate a total acreage of about 150.

This year the growers are putting on from 400 to 700 pounds of fertilizer to the acre, which is more than double the amount ever used before, and much bigger crops are looked for. Last year the growers got 45 cents per bushel for their crop right from the field, the best price ever received, and there is good money in growing them at an even less price. Some fifteen carloads of onions were shipped from the district last year, a total of about 8,000 bushels. Quite an acreage of potatoes will also be put out, but not so large perhaps as last year. For last year’s potato crop 70 cents per bushel could have been had right from the field, but the early crop being an almost total failure, it was thought potatoes would be worth almost their weight in gold before spring, and the growers held on. But nearly everybody was fooled. The late crop in the potato growing states was immense, and the price went down more than half, and the Gifford growers sold this spring for about 50 cents per bushel.