THe JOURNAL 



OF 



Tfie department of Mgricufture 



OF 



LIBRARY 

 NEW YORF 

 VICTORIA. BOTANICAl 



QAKDBN. 



Vol. IX. Part 2. lOth February, 1911. 



ONION CULTURE. 



E. E. Pescott, Principal, School of Horticulture, Burnley. 



In ^'ictoria, during the season i 909-10, there were, under the cultivation 

 of onions, 6,434 acres of land which produced 31,715 tons. These figures 

 represent a record in onion i)roduction in Victoria. The official statistics 

 date from the season 1855-6, when. 38I acres produced 2,905 cwt.. or 

 nearly 76 cwt. per acre. The average product for the past season was 

 nearly 5 tons, so that, since onion culture was first commenced in Victoria, 

 the rate of production has increased to the extent of over i ton per acre. 

 Onion-growing was, however, established earlier than the season mentioned. 

 In 1854. the late Mr. Fred. Willey planted the first acre of onions grown 

 in Victoria, at Bellarine East, near Portarlington. Part of the produce 

 was sold in 1855 by his son, Mr. R. Willey, in Johnston's Auction Rooms. 

 Geelong, and realized 12s. 6d. per ton. In the following year. Messrs. 

 S. Hibbert, J. Walker, and A. Willey also started onion-growing ; and. 

 from this first acre at Bellarine, the onion industry has gradually spread 

 throughout the whole State At the present time, onions are still being 

 grown in the vicinity, and on the identical spot, where the first acre of 

 onions was planted in 1854. 



The onion can adapt itself to a very wide range of climate and it 

 shoulfl thrive equalix well. providetJ tlie soil be suitable, throughout the 

 whole of the State. It stands almost alone in vegetable crops in posses- 

 sing the characteristic that it will grow successfully in the same soil for 

 many years, without change of crop, provitlrd that onion pests an.j 

 diseases are not prevalent. .As showing the productiveness of the Bellarine 

 .soil, there is one ])addock. in which onions were grown for thirty years 

 continuously. Mr. K. Willey grew in one paddix^k sevt^n successive crops 

 of onions in .seven succ«'.ssive years, and tht- .seventh ( n>p was the heaviest, 

 averaging 18 tons per acre. 



It is unfortunate that the onion eel-worm has obtained such a strong 

 hold in the Bellarine soil, as there is no doubt that the district is second 



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