68 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 169. 



and mature full-grown onions at least a month earlier than onions grown 

 from seed. Owing to the cost of the sets, perhaps averaging about 156 

 an acre, and their setting, a comparatively small acreage is thus grown — 

 in 1914 about 225 acres, belonging chiefly to the larger growers. Most 

 of the onions are propagated by sowing the seed in rows in the field where 

 the crop is to mature. Naturally, only seed with a high germinating test 

 should be used. Over half of the seed now used in the Connectic"ut Valley 

 is California-grown. A large percentage of the remainder is grown near 

 Milford and Wethersfield, Conn. 



Fig. 16. — A good field of Connecticut Valley onion seed as it appears just before it is harvested. 

 Heavy winds and hail spell ruin for this enterprise. 



Very little seed has as yet been grown in the Connecticut Valley, but 

 several demonstration plots have proved conclusively that it can be profit- 

 ably raised. One prominent seed house doing business in the valley 

 harvested from a plot of approximately 1 acre 4.30 pounds of marketable 

 seed. This is about one-third to one-fourth less than the California yield 

 under favorable soil and weather conditions. In 1915 good seed cost the 

 grower about $1.30 per pound and $1.50 on credit. Generally from 5 to 6 

 pounds of seed are required to sow an acre. The seed is sown as early 

 in the spring as the soil can be brought into proper condition, usually 

 about the first week in April. 



