MARKETING OF BERMUDA ONIONS 33 
heavy rains occurred which caused the shipment of inferior stock 
and accentuated the usual seasonal decline. 
Many different methods of sale were used during the season. 
Some onions were contracted for before harvesting, some were con- 
signed by growers, and some were sold f . o. b. shipping point for cash. 
After the rains in early May there was a general disinclination on 
the part of the dealers to pay cash for the onions. Several growers 
consigned cars to reliable dealers in large markets, but the majority 
turned over their stock to local dealers to handle for them on a com- 
mission basis. 
PRICES IN 1919 
The low prices received by growers in 1918 resulted in a marked 
decrease in plantings the following year. Texas acreage was less 
than 7,000 acres as compared with 18,000 acres the previous year. 
California plantings were reduced from 3,000 acres to less than 2,000. 
Since only the usual quantity of old onions remained unconsumed 
on April 1, the delay in the opening of the 1919 season allowed more 
than the usual amount of these onions to be consumed before the 
Texas crop came on the market. 
These conditions caused high opening prices, but as heavy ship- 
ments began to arrive in the markets, the usual seasonal decline 
began to take place. This decline would undoubtedly have attained 
considerably more momentum had it not been for the heavy 
rains that occurred early in May. These rains shut off the supply 
temporarily and sent prices sharply up again in consuming centers. 
Irregular declines took place after that time, caused principally 
by the receipt in various cities of stock damaged by the rains, but 
the market held up thereafter better than usual in that part of the 
season. At Laredo prices moved steadily upward. Because the 
rains in 1919 were more evenly spaced through the season than in 
191S, were not so severe at any one time, and caught the onions at a 
less mature stage generally, their effect was to raise prices instead 
of lowering them as was the case in 1918. 
Total Bermuda shipments in 1919 w T ere the smallest of the eight 
years and prices in general the highest. 
The expectation of very high prices in 1919 caused dealers to con- 
tract a large percentage of the crop a long time before the opening 
of the season. The contract prices in most cases ranged between 
$1.50 and $2.25 per crate. Many of these dealers then resold the 
onions on wire orders f. o. b. shipping point. A few of the larger 
growers, who had thorough organization for selling, consigned to 
their agents in the consuming markets, and generally reaped a hand- 
some profit. 
PRICES IN 1920 
Texas Bermudas reached the highest values of the five years at the 
beginning of the 1920 season, several important markets paying $6 
to $7 a crate for No. 1 Yellow Bermudas. (See fig. 10.) Even at 
Texas shipping points, over $4 was paid up to April 12, and in spite 
of a switchmen's strike and a labor shortage these exceptional prices 
soon stimulated a very heavy movement and caused the most rapid 
price decline of the eight years. California shipments and imports 
from Egypt and the Bermuda Islands were much heavier than in 
previous years and helped to depress prices. The bulk of the crop 
