ONION. A common garden vegetable, of the lily family, which is cultivated in great variety and supplied to the markets nearly all the year round. The Weathersfield onion is most com monly cultivated in this country and can be eaten raw or cooked in many ways. The onion was known to the aRcients, being cul tivated in Asia and Europe from the most remote times. The earliest shipune_As come from the Bermuda Islands. In Spain and Portugal raw onions are often eaten like apples by the work ing men, and in conjunction with bread, they furnish many a din ner. They are highly nutritious, containing a large quantity of nitrogenous matter and uncrvstalized sugar, with an oil resembling that of garlic.
The Cultivator has the following instructive article on this vegetable, which is so largely dealt in by grocers and produce dealers: The onion is a native of the Levant and belongs to the lily order. Its use is very general in most portions of the world as an adjunct in cookery, for soups, broths, and the like. Many varieties are also palatable when cooked as vegetables by them selves. Among the principal and best varieties are the white or silver-skinned, yellow, and red, while onions have various names, according to their size, shape, season and flavor. The strong smell and taste of onions is due to a pungent, volatile oil, rich in sulphur. Moderate-sized onions contain ninety-one per cent. of water. Grown in warm places, the onion is milder and sweeter than when grown in colder climates.
Rut a few years ago the principal part of the onions raised in this country for market were produced in Massachusetts. In 1875 there were 104:5 acres under the onion crop in this State, with an aggregate yield of 359,706 bushels, 195,530 of which were raised in Essex county alone, and 64,384 bushels in Middle sex county. In the former county, the town of Newbury pro duced 65,585 bushels, Danvers 25,996, Peabody 22,515, Marble head 21,749, and West Newbury 16,057 bushels, while in the latter county the town of Arlington alone grew 27,194 bushels. Five or ten years ago, a buyer, by spending a day or two in Essex county at this season of the year, could form a pretty correct idea of the onion crop of the country, probable price, and all the facts necessary to form a judgment of the future of the trade. Now
this has all changed. Less onions are raised in Massachusetts than formerly, and the supply from various other points has in creased most wonderfully, while the facilities for cheap and rapid transportation have made impossible any very wide fluctuation in the genera] market.
Western farmers, in some sections, have paid increased atten tion to the onion crop. From Davenport, Iowa, alone were shipped last year 40,000 barrels of onions. Large shipments are also made, both to Philadelphia and New York, from Cleveland, Ohio. Connecticut now raises many onions, mostly of the red variety, for the New York market. Thus, while but a few years ago Massachusetts supplied most of the Atlantic cities with onions, now the trade has been usurped by producers from other States. Boston market demands principally yellow onions; in New York red onions sell nearly as well ai white or yellow ; in Halifax and St. John red onions have the preference. There is but little dif ference in the quality, and the choice is largely a matter of taste or fancy ; Western farmers raise chiefly the yellow variety. But few Western onions are shipped so far East as New England, ex cept when prices are very high, since they come directly in com petition with the Massachusetts supply, yet the former affect prices and prevent any material advance in our home lots, besides restricting the sale of our onions. With fertile, virgin soil and cheap freights, Western products everywhere compete with the products of New York and New England, and limit the number of farm crops which can be profitably cultivated in the latter sec tion.
The first new onions are received about May 1st from Bermuda They formerly came packed in palm-leaf hampers, holding from one-half to one bushel each, but now they are freighted in wooden boxes holding about one bushel each. The onions are large and flat, of a yellowish red color, though not of so deep a red as speci mens of that variety grown in this country. Several cargoes were shipped direct to Boston last season, consigned to Bennett, Rand ,Lcz, Co., North Market street. The early arrivals sold at $1.50 to S1.60 per bushel, and some later receipts sold as low as 41.10 to $1.22. Bermuda onions are sweet, and form excellent eating.