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September  until  July  all  of  the  regulation  vegetables,  and  less 
than  an  eighth  of  an  acre  keeps  my  own  and  sometimes  the  neigh- 
bor’s family  in  vegetables  for  nine  months  of  the  year. 
During  the  three  warmest  summer  months  I usually  experience 
more  trouble  from  pests  and  heat,  so  find  it  more  profitable  to  fal- 
low the  garden  and  plow  in  manure  at  the  rate  of  ten  to  twenty 
tons  per  acre.  Referring  to  the  onions,  would  advise  planting 
the  onions  for  market  in  October,  and  then  they  will  come  in  to 
market  about  January  to  May  during  which  time  the  price  is 
highest. 
As  you  have  been  a small  farmer  advocate  I have  addressed 
you  in  this  matter  thinking  you  may  know  of  some  one  in  the 
vicinity  of  Honolulu  who  might  make  a good  thing  on  a crop  of 
onions.  Tell  him  to  keep  his  onions  in  the  ground  until  the  tops 
die  and  then  dry  them  out  thoroughly  on  an  absolutely  dry  surface 
exposed  to  good  warm  sunlight  with  no  chance  of  dew  or  rain 
wetting  them  above  or  below  during  the  drying  process.  Tell 
him  to  prepare  his  soil  with  well  rotted  manure  at  the  rate  of  ten 
to  twenty  tons  per  acre  before  transplanting.  For  three  months 
we  have  bought  no  onions  from  Honolulu,  all  the  trade  in  this  dis- 
trict having  been  supplied  with  the  results  of  this  experiment.  If 
this  information  will  aid  any  citizen  in  making  a start  in  sup- 
plying the  Hawaiian  market  with  home  grown  onions,  it  will  have 
been  worth  while. 
Yours  truly, 
Kealia,  Kauai,  June  io,  1909. 
Geo.  H.  Fairchild. 
“There  are  opportunities  for  farmers  to  come  here  and  under- 
take the  cultivation  of  potatoes,  onions  and  cabbages,  very  large 
amounts  of  each  of  these  vegetables  being  brought  to  the  islands 
every  year  from  the  Mainland,  or  even  from  Australia.  The  suc- 
cess of  market  gardening  enterprises  of  this  character  would 
depend  on  the  ability  of  the  farmer  to  produce  a uniform  supply 
at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  the  climatic  conditions  are  such  that 
this  is  entirely  practicable.  The  local  consumer  prefers  island 
products  to  those  which  are  brought  in  from  the  Mainland.  About 
$150,000  worth  of  vegetables  are  shipped  into  Honolulu  every 
year,  the  larger  portion  of  which  could  be  produced  locally,  and 
undoubtedly  sometime  will  be,  whenever  the  producer  undertakes 
to  supply  crops  of  any  one  of  these  vegetables  in  succession 
throughout  the  year.” — Jared  G.  Smith. 
