36 ON EOOT CULTURE. 



vored by Mr. Daniel Osborn, Mr. John Peasleo, Mr. James P. 

 King, and Mr, Aaron C. Proctor, all of Danvers, vnth minute state- 

 ments of their metliods of cultivating onions, and of their products 

 the present year. These statements are herewith submitted. 



In addition to the information thus derived, and in compliance 

 with the wish expressed at the time of their appointment, your com- 

 mittee have spared no pains, by personal examination of fields under 

 culture, through the season, and by inquiry of those best informed 

 on the subject, to become thoroughly acquainted with this branch of 

 culture. And although they do not wish or expect every owner of 

 land to become cultivators of onions ; nor do they beheve that all 

 have the skill, industry and perseverance necessary to success, if 

 they should attempt it ; still they are not aware of any other use of 

 land that affords a better reward for the labor applied, unless it may 

 be the cultivation of some fruits and garden vegetables, in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of large markets, such as strawberries, asparagus, 

 celleri/, &c. &c., for which the demand is limited; and which must 

 necessarily be distributed and consumed at the time. 



Finding it impossible to condense within the reasonable limits of a 

 Report, our ideas on this subject, we have arranged them in the form 

 of "An Essay on the Cultivation of the Onion," and submitted it to 

 the examination of the Committee appointed to judge of such papers. 



The general result of our inquiries is, that the average yield of 

 Onions in the town of Danvers the present year (where at least two 

 hundred acres have been cultivated) is One hundred and Eighty bar- 

 rels, or from four to five hundred bushels per acre. The average value, 

 for several successive years, has been one dollar per barrel. The pres- 

 ent year, the best kinds have commanded in the market, one dollar 

 and a quarter per barrel. The average cost of dressing and culti- 

 vating an acre of land with onions does not exceed seventy-five dol- 

 lars — leaving a net income for the use of the land, of at least one 

 hundred dollars per acre. 



The Committee recommend that the Society's premium of six 

 dollars be awarded to Mr. John Peaslee, for his successful culture of 

 onions. And that a gratuity of three dollars each be given to Mr. 

 Daniel Osborn, Mr. Aaron C. Proctor, Mr. James P. King, Mr. 

 Benjamin P. Ware, and Mr. Henry Bushby, for their attention in 

 preparing their statements; and in the hope, that such persevering la- 

 borers and accurate observers will be disposed to become members of 



