loG FUXGI AXD FUXGICIUES 



by leading horticulturists for other reasons than this, — 

 there is a sim2:)le and efficient remedy. Concerning the 

 j^ractical value of transplanting, a word further may be 

 said. Ex})eriments made at the Ohio Experiment Sta- 

 tion, by j\[r. W. J. Green, indicate that by starting 

 onions in forcing houses or hotbeds the yield may be 

 nearly doubled, without involving any more labor. 

 Concerning the cost of cultivation, Mr. Green says : 



^'The difference in cost of cultivation was consid- 

 erable, the ratio being about one to two in favor of the 

 bed of transplanted onions. At the first weeding both 

 beds were weedy, but while the weeds were as large as 

 the onions in the bed where the seed was sown, making 

 weeding difficult and slow, the task was comparatively 

 easy in the other bed. At the second weeding it was 

 necessary to remove many of the small onions in the 

 bed where the seed was sown, an oj^eration which is 

 equivalent to an extra weeding. The work of weeding 

 was but one-half on the bed of transplanted onions that 

 it was on the other bed. Counting the extra trouble of 

 growing in the greenhouse and transplanting, the work 

 on the two beds was about the same for the whole sea- 

 son ; that is, transplanting adds nothing to the cost of 

 growing the crop, aside from the necessity of a green- 

 house, hotbed or cold-frame, in any of which the i^lants 

 can be started. 



*'The difference in the time of ripening was about 

 one month, in favor of the transplanted onions, making 

 it possible to use them for bunching, and also to market 

 the crop at an earlier date than could be done with those 

 sown in the open ground. The yield of the transplanted 

 onions was about double that of the others." 



Experiments by Dr. Thaxter indicate that possibly 

 flowers and sulphur and air-slaked lime mixed together 

 in equal parts, and sowed with the seed, may have a pre- 

 ventive effect. The same authority says that '^ill refuse 



