Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-06-07
URGES PEOPLE
To EAT onions
GROWN IN HAWAII

peOpIe o. Hawaii are fond OF onions,
but they seem TO prefer the imported
to the home grown variety, win 'he
! result that while nearly ",O"","0'
pounds OF this vegetable were import
ed TO the islands last year, many tons
OF HaWaii-grO~n onions went Oes'
gtng. the farmers even suffering loss.
The situation is but little better TO-
dav. SAYS A. T. Longley, supertnten-
dent of the Territorial Marketing Dr.
vision, In a report submitted 10 the
Food Commission yesterday
Longley asks the assistance OF the
commission in helping solve the onion
rroblem. The commission in turn Is
going to pass the buck to the con,
lsumers OF the islands, asking that the
'puyers insist hereafter upon the
island product. Home consumption OF
home products Is as much part OF
the wartime saving campaign as saw
ing on meat and bread consumption
the commission believes.
In his report, submitted to the Food
Commission today, Superintendent
Longley reviews the situation as fol-
slows:
?. The condition Of the onion mar
.ket has improved considerably during
ithe past two weeks but the situation
is still very bad for the grower. ! at
tribute the poor condition Of the mar
Ret for island onions to the following
causes:
Il. That the dealers have standing
orders with mainland produce firms
nh lob
cancel, due to the uncertainty OF local
crops.
g. That the retailers will not
handle the island onions on the same
margin of profit as they do imported
onions, due to the fact that there Is
Treater spoilage in the local onions.
"3. That the consumers will not
x1emand that the retailers supply them
with island onions at the price adver-
tised in the papers daily, but buy I'M
ported onions at higher prices.
! a. That the varieties OF onions
|being grown in the islands at present
while conceded to be mild and OF eX-
cellent flavor, are difficult to cure and
do not stand shipping or storing as
well as imported onions.
Practically all of this crop Of Hal
Ru onions has been sent to market.
The division has only a few cases left
10 dispose Of. Most Of these onions
were Of the Crystal Wax variety and
the early shipments were not well
.cured. Later shipments were In bet
condition but unless this variety
Can be more thoroughly cured 1t is
hot hk1
planted.
There are from Is to 20 tons Of
onion of the Yellow Bermuda variety
on this island and the crop from
about Is acres VI the same variety
IL the Kula district yet to be market
cd. The Oahu onions, some OF which
have already been marketed by the
division, are probably the best onions
ever grown in the territory, and as
ihey are fairly well cured and sound,
should meet a ready sale to retailers
and consumers.
, None OF this crop Of Kula onions
has been marketed in Honolulu to
cate and no samples have been re-
Ceived In former years the Kula
onions have been much larger than
those grown in other sections, but
generally not we'll cured. Whether
Che poor curing has been due to eli, |
matte conditions or the lack of In
struction on the part of the produc-
ers, l cannot say. /
g, In order to determine the best .
varieties of onions to grow in the ter !
ritory, Mr.. F. G. Krauss, Of the L. ,
S Experiment Station, is testing out
~ varieties on a large scale at Haiku.
He intends to plant at different sea.
sons of the year in order to determine
at what seasons each variety does
best and whether or not more than
one crop can be raised in a year.
During the calendar year 1916
total of 2,S56,000 pounds of onions
we're imported into the territory at
an average price of 23 cents pound
plus freight from shipping point and
importers profit In view Of the
above figures it would appear that
there should be no trouble for local
Producers to dispose Of a few tons Of
Island onions at cents a pound"