33 



and such of the earlier onions as are to be sent long dis- 

 tances, or be kept awhile before marketing, are sometimes 

 traced. Traced onions keep in good condition a long while 

 in a dry, cool place. Within a few years tracing has almost 

 ceased in this vicinity. 



MARKETING THE CROP. 



The Sett onions, Potato onions, Top onions and Rare- 

 ripes, in some sections, are for the most part sent to market 

 in a green state in bunches. The Potato onions are brought 

 from the South, dry, in large quantities to supply the North- 

 ern markets, soon after the arrival of the Bermuda onions, 

 just before the ripening of the Northern crop. i\fter the 

 Potato onions follows the earliest variety of the Red, and 

 immediately after, the Danvers, and finally, the large Red 

 completes the season. The sales in the Northern markets 

 early in the season are made mostly for the supply of the 

 local immediate demand, the great bulk of the crop not being 

 sent in before the call for shipping purposes has commenced. 

 For this reason, farmers find it to be for their interest to do 

 but little more than feel the market until about the middle of 

 October, as large purchases made previous to this period are 

 mostly as an investment by speculators, with the exception 

 of such lots as go to supply the markets of large towns and 

 cities of the extreme North beyond the limits of the onion- 

 growing region. 



The price of onions varies greatly ; they have sold as low 

 as seventy-five cents a barrel, while the early crop of 1864 

 sold as high as sixteen dollars a barrel, by the five hundred 

 barrels. From September to March, in the same season, the 

 fluctuation is sometimes between two dollars and six dollars. 

 Crops have at times been sold to be delivered in the course 



