No. 4.] ONION GROWING. 257 



ONION GEOWING IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY. 



LESLIE R. SMITH, HADLEY, MASSACHUSETTS. 



[Next to potatoes and green corn the onion crop has the largest value 

 of any vegetable crop in Massachusetts, the last State census giving this 

 crop an annual value of $662,000. The two leading counties in onion 

 production as with tobacco are Hampshire and Franklin, in the order 

 named. Hampden County, the southernmost of the Connecticut River 

 counties, however, does not rank high in this crop. The distribution of 

 the onion crop over the State is much wider than with tobacco, and Essex, 

 Middlesex, Bristol and Worcester counties all raise appreciable quan- 

 tities. The towns of Arlington and Belmont, in particular, both raise 

 considerable quantities. 



Hatfield and Sunderland are the two leading towns in onion growing 

 and are followed by Hadley, Deerfield and Whately. Probably the prin- 

 cipal reason for the preponderance of onion growing in the Connecticut 

 valley is the ease with which the land there can be worked on account of its 

 level and comparatively stoneless nature. The crop is fairly adaptable, 

 however, and farmers who have any flat land of a muck nature would do 

 well to try onions on it in a small way. — Editor.] 



In the past twenty years onion growing in the Connecticut 

 valley has grown from almost nothing to a money crop second 

 in importance only to tobacco. Acres that were formerly given 

 up to grass, corn and other general farm crops are now taken 

 up with this crop, which is successful both on the heavier and 

 lighter soils of the valley. The abundant Polish help is prob- 

 ably the one largest factor in bringing this about, and the 

 fact that onions can be grown with very little capital has given 

 many of these hard-working people a start toward prosperity. 

 The Polish are raising nearly all the onions in the valley to-day, 

 either on shares, by the acre, or on their own farms. Other 

 factors which have combined to make the crop very much of 

 a, success are the ease with which the valley can be worked 

 by modern farm machinery, on account of its level nature 



