180 



can be grown, but whether it is worth while to grow them; or 

 whether on an average of years they will pay the grower, is in my 

 humble opinion, quite another question, or " a horse of another 

 colour." 



I have however been induced by those who enquire about such 

 things, to make various trials, from time to time, but in not a single 

 instance has the conclusion come to in the first instance stood in need 

 of modification or correction. The result of the last trial is put on 

 record herewith so that would-be cultivators may judge for themselves 

 whether or no, it ofi"er8 encouragment. Ifc may be explained that seeds 

 cannot be sown in the open beds in Trinidad, as ants and various other 

 insects at once destroy them previous to germination, and therefore 

 a water surrounded spot has to be used for the germination of nearly 

 every kind, which have perforce to be sown in boxes and transplanted. 



The seed was sown (May 1895) in boxes, was transplanted once, and 

 planted out finally in September in a bed 30 feet long by 4 feet wide. 

 The weight of onions in the total crop was a trifle over 3 pounds and 

 the largest of the lot weighed three (3) ounces. They were harvested 

 April, 1896. The cost was as follows : — 



Dr. Cr. 



Seeds 



Postage ... 



Boxes — six @ 3d. . . . 



Transplanting into boxes 



Preparing ground . . . 



Planting 



Labour, shading, watering, i o 5 6 



weeding, &c. , eleven months i 

 Harvesting ... 3 



£ s. d. 



6 



1 



16 



13 



7i 



1 3 



10 Hi 



£ 8. d. 



By 3 lbs. onions ? „ ^ -., 

 @2iperft. J " " '5 



on 



Now Madeira onions of first class quality can be bought nearly all 

 the year round at rates ranging from l-|d. to 2^d. per pound in. 

 Trinidad. 



Whether the above Debit and Credit account is one likely to 

 give encouragement to onion growing, I leave my readers to judge. 

 It is made out taking minimum cost, and may be taken as fairly 

 corresponding with previous trials. The experiment I may add, was 

 conducted by one who many* years ago grew and exhibited, in 

 Oxfordshire and Berkshire, the once celebrated and still catalogued 

 " Nuneham Park Onion," a variety of the white Spanish that in its 

 day took various first prizes at some of the best Horticultural 

 Exhibitions in England. 



