SOME PHASES OF ONION CULTURE. 457 



and New England states. The past decade has witnessed the 

 development of the Bermuda onion industry in Texas, until now 

 we have onions on our markets supplied during the whole 

 year, with successive crops from our own country. Nevertheless, 

 during the past five years we have imported on an average 

 1,130,000 bushels per year, chiefly from Spain, Bermuda and 

 England. England in 1915, instead of sending over the usual 

 amount, from 200,000 to 400,000 bushels, took from us 114,990 

 bushels, a condition probably due to the war. The onion in- 

 dustry has developed most rapidly, and the demand has con- 

 stantly increased. The old adage, "Keep onions in the house, 

 and you will keep the doctor away," seems to have borne fruit, 

 as onions are increasingly regarded as a healthful article of food. 

 The chief states on an acre production basis are: Ohio, 6,132; 

 New York, 5,558; Texas, 5,170; California, 4,391; Indiana, 

 4,048 ; Illinois, 3,315 ; Massachusetts, 2,493, and Minnesota, with 

 1,099, ranking about tenth. 



As far as market demands go the onion is an all the year 

 round crop, and its acreage, because of this and its wide adap- 

 tation to conditions, must increase. 



The United States Department of Agriculture and the state 

 experiment stations have done considerable research work with 

 the onion. Over a hundred bulletins or circulars have been pub- 

 lished on various phases of onion culture, and nearly every state 

 in the Union is doing, or has done, some kind of investigation 

 on the onion. Much good work has been done in testing varieties, 

 in bringing out the importance of good seed, on the effects of 

 irrigation, culture on muck land, intercropping, insects and dis- 

 eases of the onion, etc. - From the earliest times the one great 

 foundation idea in producing onions has been to grow the crop 

 on an extremely well prepared seed bed and to give the crop the 

 most thorough cultivation possible. The investigational insti- 

 tutions and the growers themselves have not been able to change 

 that basic direction, to prepare the soil well and keep it clean 

 throughout the growing season. 



The onion grower, or more especially the market gardener, 

 has improved methods of growing in so far as land utilization is 

 concerned. Among crops grown with onions as an intercrop we 

 find celery, beans, beets, spinach and lettuce. In the New York 

 and New England market garden center sets, or transplants, 

 may be planted in the field from April 5th to 25th. They may 



