MAKKETING OF BERMUDA ONIONS 45 
What growers and shippers can do is to so organize distribution 
through the period as to prevent the flooding of every market early 
in the season with larger quantities than can readily move into con- 
sumption. That is particularly true with poorly graded onions, for 
they are harder to move than the first grade. It ought to be possible 
to temper the rapidly falling prices of a year like 1920 or 1922 by 
proper control of shipments. 
VOLUME OF SHIPMENTS FROM DAY TO DAY 
The usual seasonal fall in prices has generally been checked tempo- 
rarily whenever a cessation of shipments occurs, followed the next week 
by higher prices as markets clean up. Dealers tend to discount this 
occurrence and bid prices up immediately, particularly at shipping 
points. Where the price rise precedes or accompanies the decline in 
shipments this discounting process is responsible. Prices are bid up 
immediately when a heavy rain shuts off shipments. The shipments 
already harvested continue to move out, and, if the shipments for 
the first part of the week have been heavy, the weekly average of 
shipments may not show the effect until the following week. 
Even huge quantities in the field seem to have little depressing 
influence unless shipped steadily in large quantities. Dealers with 
plenty of onions on hand want no more except at a low price, and the 
influence of the excess supply quickly forces prices down. At the last 
of the season the effect of reduced Bermuda shipments is not so notice- 
able, because of the increasing receipts of other new stock and the 
deteriorating quality and condition of the Bermudas. 
What is needed is some workable arrangement whereby the markets 
of the country will be supplied with the proportionate part of the 
crop that they will consume. The entire crop must be marketed at 
such prices as will move all of it before it meets the competition of 
the northern onions. Under the present system the Texas crop 
breaks its own market nearly every year. With a reasonable dis- 
tribution of the shipments through the period of the movement, 
with shipments held back when markets become overloaded, it is 
probable that the total crop could be sold as easily and that much 
better average prices could be secured. 
WEATHER CONDITIONS 
Condition of the weather at shipping points during harvesting 
is an important physical factor affecting prices, as has already been 
shown. Heavy rains in the producing area retard digging and. allow 
the consuming centers to dispose of accumulated stocks, thus stimu- 
lating steady or higher prices. On the other hand, rains during harvest 
are likely to injure the carrying quality of the onions, especially if 
they are thoroughly mature, and in this way cause lower prices. 
If onions are somewhat green, rains do not injure the keeping quality 
so much. Thus rains had a double effect in 1917. Early in the 
season they raised prices by threatening to curtail shipments, but 
prices were lowered later by the influence of these rains on the keeping 
quality. 
Hot weather in consuming areas is generally thought to decrease 
demand for onions but does not seem to be an important factor. 
