UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1325 
Washington, D:C. 
July, 1925 
MARKETING ONIONS 1 
By Alexander E. Cance, Consulting Specialist, and George B. Fiske, Investi- 
gator in Marketing Fruits and Vegetables, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Development of onion production 1 
Classes and types 2 
Commercial onion regions 4 
Harvesting, grading, and packing 11 
Financing the crop . 16 
Local sales methods 18 
Cooperative marketing 20 
Storage - 21 
Transportation 24 
Seasonal movement 26 
Areas of distribution 26 
Wholesale marketing 31 
Features of city markets 33 
Page 
Market preferences 42 
Supplies of large cities 42 
Seasonal consumption of cities 44 
Volume of shipments 44 
Price tendencies 46 
Forecasting the market 40 
Market information 50 
Cost of marketing 51 
Imports 52 
Exports 55 
Summary 56 
Tables of statistics 57 
Onion bulletins and circulars 69 
DEVELOPMENT OF ONION PRODUCTION 
The center of onion production seems to be moving slowly west- 
ward. Production in the Western and Middle Western States, espe- 
ciaUV in Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Ohio, and Indiana, has 
tended to increase, whereas production in New York, Massachusetts, 
and some of the other older onion sections has remained about sta- 
tionary or has decreased. The decrease has apparently been caused 
by substitution of other intensive commercial crops, such as tobacco, 
celery, and lettuce. The market advantages of the older sections are 
offset by heavy expense for fertilizers and by greater prevalence of 
diseases and pests. 
From 1918 to 1922 the average annual commercial production 
of the country was over 17,500,000 bushels, equivalent to about 35,000 
carloads of 500 bushels each, from estimated plantings of 60,000 
acres. Nearly one-fifth the production, or over 6,600 carloads, was 
from the three early States, Texas, California, and Louisiana. The 
1 Acknowledgment for material and revision is made to the Divisions of Statistical and 
Historical Research, Agricultural Finance, Agricultural Cooperation and Cost of Market- 
ing, of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, and to J. H. Boattie. of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry. 
23624°— 25 1 1 
