MARKETING ONIONS 21 
tains an office at Warsaw. At present, it is made up of 12 county or- 
ganizations. Its membership in 1923 was 321, which, according to 
officials of the association, is about 60 per cent of the onion growers 
in Indiana. From reports received to date, this association mar- 
keted 596 cars of onions in 1923, valued at $300,000. These onions 
were sold in 88 markets in 25 States. This is in contrast with 1922, 
when 2,148 cars of Indiana onions were sold in nine large markets. 
The association therefore has succeeded in making a wider distri- 
bution of the crop than had previously been made by outside 
agencies. 
Properly managed, cooperative marketing organizations afford 
economies in assembling the product and improvements in grading 
and packing, but the small tonnage which they control and their 
limited marketing connections do not always permit them to dis- 
tribute their shipments systematically. The merits of the larger or 
federation type of organization are being considered in the hope 
that, through large volume, better distribution, and improved market 
connections, the market may be stabilized and fairer returns secured 
to growers. 
STORAGE 
Most onions are placed in storage during October. By the end 
of November shipments from the field and from temporary storage 
have ceased and shipments thereafter are almost entirely of storage 
onions. Approximately 50 to 70 per cent of the commercial onions 
are shipped directly from the harvest field or from temporary stor- 
ages. The remainder is placed in permanent storage in producing 
regions and is moved throughout the winter. 
Bather careful surveys show that very few of these country stor- 
age onions remain in the farmer's hands. Nearly all of them have 
passed into the possession of local onion dealers, who may well be 
•called speculators. The storage of onions is expensh^e. The mere 
f»ossession and holding of the onions must be financed and the waste 
rom storage even under the best conditions is considerable. Shrink- 
age is seldom less than 7 per cent in any year, although it rarely 
exceeds 15 per cent, except for onions that are held very late the 
following spring. There are some seasons, however, when the quan- 
tity of storable onions is comparatively small and the quality poor, 
and occasionally the shrinkage loss has been as high as 33 per cent. 
Long-period storage of onions in producing sections is important 
in New York, the Connecticut Valley, the Middle West, and in cen- 
tral California. Early onions are not storable for any appreciable 
time, and the so-called intermediate crop is shipped within a few 
days after harvest. Moreover, in Ohio and Indiana commercial 
storage has been developed to only a moderate extent, so that during 
the fall of 1922, when much of the eastern crop was of low grade, 
many cars of onions were shipped from Ohio and Indiana to the 
Connecticut Valley and there placed in storage, shippers availing 
themselves of the "storage in transit" privileges granted by the 
railroads. The greater part of the locally-stored onions is kept on 
the farm in sheds or other buildings until hard freezing weather, 
usually about December 1. At that time they are either transferred 
to the warehouse of the local dealer or, if they have not been sold 
