Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-04-14
CALAMITY IN
island ONION
MARKET NEAR
Supt. LongIey Ct Marketing d.
vision Urges Public to Pat
ronize Home Industry

IF home consumers do not patron.
ize home industry. there is going It.
be a calamity in the island onion in
dustry and market before long" said
A. T. Longley. superintendent OF the
Territorial Marketing Division. today.
We want the people Of Honolulu to
ask for island-grown Bermuda onions
when they buy this produce"
Mr.. Longley says THAI the only fresh
onions in the market today are island
from California, which have spent
much time in cold storage The is
land onions, he says, are milder AMI
sweeter than the others. and as
cheap or cheaper than the imported
product At present the supply OF is
land-grown onions is exceeding the
demand. At the present time CalifOr-
mia opiOns are beins supplied TO the
army on contract, where last year the
contract called for island onions.
THE army wants a large onion and
this year the island onions are small.
due to insufficient rain" says Long
ley. This will make it hard next
month to get enough large onions to
supply the contract
Pine Shipments Developing.
Mr.. Longley reports that several
men from the mainland have visited
the market during the last several
days to get information regarding the
shipment of Hawaiian pineapples as
far east as Cincinnati. Ohio. The
pines are wanted in carload lots, but
at price a little too cheap, thinks
Mr.. Longley.
IF we can get pines to Chicago in
good condition" he says. and get for
them the price at which they are SELL
ing Florida pineapples, we will be
able to make big thing Cut Of the
shipment of fresh fruit from the is
lands. The largest pines now being
sold in Chicago are quoted as weigh
ing about three ana three-tenths
pounds, and are selling for 6l2 cents
pound wholesale. If We can ship
pines into Chicago now and get as
good results as In 1907, at which time
experimental shipments were made,
there is no reason why the growers
could not make a great deal more
money that way than by selling their
fruit to the canneries.
THE main trouble is that the pines
would have to be small to meet the
demand for cheap fruit. All the Flo
rida pines are small, many weighing
less than two pounds. Such pines
are practically thrown away in Ha'
wall"
Demand for Sweet spuds.
The marketing. drision reports that
Medeira sweet potatoes are being rails
ed on Kauai In larger quantities this
year than ever before, and are meet
ing with good demand locally. They
are said to be far ahead of the or
binary island varieties and are con.
sidered by some as even better than
the California Merceds. The Medeiras
now are selling at $3.50 a hundred
pounds, while the common sweet po-
tatoes are bringing from 65 to So
cents.
Owing to the large shipment OF
peanuts from Japan, island peanuts
are hard to sell at the present time.
All local dealers have large stocks on
hand.
Mr.. Longley said today that as soon
as the division gets its proposed new
quarters in Maunakea street, and a
larger working fund, it intends to do
more work in the Standardization OF
products. AS it now is, produce comes
in in all sorts of containers, which de