Vol. XVI. No. 390. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS 



109 



ATTEMPTS TO GROW ONIONS OUT OF 

 SEASON IN ANTIGUA 



Mr. T. Jackson, Agricultural Superintendent, 

 Antigua, has forwarded the following note on experi- 

 ments made to grow onions out of season in Antigua. 



It has been clearly demonstrated during the past decade 

 that the amount of profit accruing from a given area of 

 land planted under onions, either for export or local consump- 

 tion, depends to a considerable extent on the earliness of the 

 crop. During a normal year the early part of the Antiguan 

 crop is placed on the market before the Bermudian crop, or 

 any produced in the Southern States of America. This fact 

 gives the local planter a great advantage over his fellow 

 planters in leas favoured situations. 



It is, however, only a proportion of the local produce 

 that gets into the early markets and meets with little compe- 

 tition from onions grown in other centres; the other portion 

 often meets with some rivalry. The question as to how this 

 should be avoided has for some time occupied the minds of 

 Officers of the Agricultural Department, and planters. At 

 one time it was thought that the planting of sets w^iuld be 

 one way out of the difficulty, but experiments inaugurated 

 with the view of raising a crop from these were abortive: 

 only thick-necked onions were produced; in fact, the mature 

 produce resembled leeks rather than onions. Failure to 

 grow onions from sets has also been recently recorded from 

 Bermuda. It might be noted, however, that the successful 

 raising of onions in the West Indies from sets has been 

 reported. As far as can be ascertained, the sets used for all 

 the trials mentioned were imported; attempts that were 

 made locally to save sets from one season for planting the 

 next were all failures. In consequence i>f the failure to raise 

 onions for the early market by means of sets, it was thought 

 that seeds might be kept from one season, from which early 

 produce could be raised during the next. The result of 

 ■a. 'oeed b.uiagc' trial was recorded in the Antigua Botanic 

 Station Report for 1913-14. Without going into details, it may 

 be said that the experiment indicated that onion seed could 

 be kept in seed receptacles in Antigua for about six months, 

 after which its power of germination rapidly decreased. For 

 the purpo-se required, this period of time was too short by 

 some two or three months. 



In 1915 the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for 

 the West Indies caused a small quantity of onion seed to be 

 forwarded from Teneritfe to the Itoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 

 to be stored under controlled conditions. This seed was stored 

 from August to March. The following is a copy of a memo- 

 randum from Kew, dealing with the seed in question; — 



'2 ft), of seed of the above (White Bermuda <Jnion) 

 ■were received from the Canaries in August to be stored at 

 Kew for the West Indies. 



'They were divided into three portions: one (a) being 

 placed in a glass bottle with cotton wool stopping; one (b) in 

 a stout paper seed packet, and one (c) in an air-tight tin. 

 When the seeds arrived a trial sowing was made, 100 per 

 cent, germinated. 



'In March sowings were made frem the glass bottle and 

 paper packet and every seed germinated. 



'The packages have been kept in a dry cupboard in 

 a room at a temperature of about .55° F.' 



These seeds arrived in Antigua in May, and owing to 

 certain unavoidable circumstances were not opened for about 

 one month. ( )n June 10 the seeds were .sown in nursery 

 bedf, and samples retained for germination tests which were 

 made at the Government Laboratory and Botanic Station. 

 The germination percentage in both cases agreed fairly 



closely, and the mean results are given below: — 



A, germination 53 per cent. 



B, „ 46 „ „ 



C, „ 44 „ „ 



The growth made in the nursery beds by the seedlings 

 raised from 'A', 'B' and 'C lots of seed wa.s, on the whole, good, 

 and there was little to choose between the plantlets raised 

 between the two former lots; the seedlings from 'C" were 

 perhaps not quite so strong and vigorous as the others. In 

 addition, two other sets of seeds were kept in cold storage 

 in Barbados. These may be designated 'D' and 'E'. The 

 germination test for these was 30 and 37 per cent., respec- 

 tively. 



When in the seed beds however, one lot failed to germi- 

 nate altogether, and the seedlings obtained from the other 

 were weakly. It is not known what temperature these 

 seeds were subjected to when in cold storage, but if it was 

 anything near freezing point, it is possible that rapid 

 thawing after removal ruptured the tissues. As far as this 

 trial goes, one may say that onion seeds cannot with any 

 degree of certainty be kept from one season to another i a 

 cold storage in the West Indies. 



The seedlings obtained from the seed kept in England 

 were transplanted into a ,\j-acre plot on July 1 9. This work 

 was done under the supervision of one of the oiBcers attached 

 to the Experiment Station. When the plants were taken up 

 from the nursery it was noticed that the size of the bulbs was 

 out of proportion to that of the foliage. They had the appear- 

 ance of having been left tao long in the seed beds; this was 

 not the case however, as reference to the dates given indicates. 

 When in their permanent positions no apparent growth was 

 made for some two or three weeks, and a large proportion of 

 the young plants died in spite of attention as regards artifi- 

 cial watering, necessitating several supplyings. The reaping 

 of the produce was commenced on January "25. and com- 

 pleted on February IJ, the plot giving 1701b. of onions, of 

 which 451b. were unsound. 



The bulbs obtained from this trial were, on the whole, 

 of inditt'erent shape, consisting of a large proportion of what 

 is known as 'thick necks'. 



Caution is necessary in drawing conclusions from 

 a single experiment, but it would seem that we have obtained 

 some definite information in connexion with the growing 

 of onions for early markets. There can be little doubt that 

 onion seed can be kept in England for several months with- 

 out fear of deterioration, but on reaching the tropics it 

 evidently loses its vitality rapidly. 



On the other hand, seed that will germinate but will 

 not subsequently produce marketable bulbs is of little 

 practical value. Thi.' appearance of the onions under dis- 

 cussion, when growing at Skerretts, resembleil that of 

 plants growing in an undesirable environment. This 

 together with one's knowledge as to how vigorous the crop 

 grows during certain months indicates that there is a rjues- 

 tion of 'season" to be considered. In the trial under discussien, 

 the see<ls arrived in Antigua in May and were sown a month 

 afterwards. To solve the question as to the earliest possible 

 date when the onion crop can be grown in Antigua, a small 

 quantity of seed kept under controlled conditions in England 

 might be sent so as to arrive during the months of May, 

 June and July. If these were sown immediately on arrival, 

 it is possible that the point would soon be cleared up. Such 

 seed should be .sent direct to the place where it is to be 

 grown, so that its vitility may not be impaired by the tropical 

 climate. 



[Arrangements have been made with Kew to give 

 effsct to this propnsal during the present year. — Ed. A. JV.\ 



