ONIONS IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY 



15 



In 1931 a further study of the effect of size of set on yield and quality of the 

 crop was made. Owing to the fact that so large a number of the sets generally 

 sold for planting are outside of the size limits Y2 to % inch (termed medium in 

 the previous experiment), the distributors of sets felt that they could not confine 

 the size of sets sold to these limits without raising the price above what growers 

 could afford to pay. They therefore compromised and made a grade from 3/8 to 

 7/8 inch which was sold quite extensively in 1931. 



Figure 4. Comparison between commercial sets (left) and srecially graded sets (right). Note 

 number of onions with seed stalks (piled by the signs) produced from the two sizes of sets. 



A field test was conducted to compare these commercially graded sets with 

 sets graded from Yi, to % inch. The field was fertilized with 2500 pounds per 

 acre of a 4-12-8 fertilizer, and each treatment was replicated 10 times. The 

 3/8- to 7/8-inch size required 28.2 bushels of sets per acre, and the Yi- to %-inch 

 size but 25.5 bushels per acre. During the early summer, counts on 500 plants on 

 each plot were made to determine the number of divided bulbs and seed stalks. 

 After growing 95 days the onions were harvested. At the time of clipping, those 

 having seed stalks were kept separate. The bulbs under 1 Y inches were screened 

 out. 



The yield from the two groups of sets was practically the same, it being 282.3 

 bags (100 pounds each) from the Yi- to %-inch sets and 287.5 bags from the 

 3/8- to 7/8-inch sets. 



Table 5 gives the percentage of divided bulbs, of bulbs with seed stalks, and of 

 the various grades. This test seems to show that though a considerable number of 

 bulbs developed seed stalks or divided bulbs in the 3/8- to 7/8-inch group, they 

 produced nearly as many pounds of bulbs over \Y inches and not having seed 

 stalks as the Y2- to %-inch size. The 3/8- to 7/8-inch sets also produced a large 

 percentage of the bulbs in the smaller sizes. The difference in price of the two 



