REPORT OF MR. W. S. BLAIR 



385 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



tops on, and will keep well in this condition, and topping can be done when they are 

 prepared for the market. 



The yield of the different varieties as given below is from one row 33 feet long. 

 The varieties are given in the order of their earliness. 



ONIONS — TEST OF VARIETIES. 



Name of Variety. 



Paris Silverskin Sept. 



Barletta , 



New Queen 



White Dutch 



Extra Early Flat Red 



Wethersfield Large Bed 



South port White Globe 



Mammoth Silver King 



Australian Brown 



Blood Red 



Straw-coloured Spanish 



Market Favourite Keeping , 



Southport Yellow Globe 



James' Keeping 



Trebon's Large Yellow .... 



Golden Globe 



Danver's Yellow Globe 



Yield 



of Row 33 ft. 



long. 



Lbs. 



33£ 

 29^ 

 24^ 

 30£ 



20§ 



14| 



38i 



29| 



32£ 



34* 



20* 



40 



23 



29 



m 



25i 



CABEAGE. 



Twenty-three varieties of cabbage were grown in the test plots. The object of the 

 experiment was to obtain information as to the value of the different sorts for early 

 market purposes. The seed was sown in a hot-bed April 13, in rows 4 inches apart. 

 The plants were thinned to one inch apart in the rows on April 25, and were set in 

 the open ground May 15. The glass should remain off the hot-beds for 10 days before 

 putting the plants out to harden them up. The plants should be given plenty of 

 room in the hot-bed and not too much water. 



The soil in which the plants were set was a heavy clay loam, which was manured 

 in the fall of 1900 with stable manure at the rate of 20 tons per acre. This was 

 ploughed under, and the following spring was worked up and run into rows 30 inches 

 apart. The rows were raked off and the plants put out. On May 30, a tablespoonful 

 of nitrate of soda was scattered on the soil around each plant, covering a space of about 

 5 inches in diameter. Nitrate of soda supplies nitrogen in a readily available form, 

 giving the plants a vigorous start. They made good growth at the beginning, but 

 owing to the exceptionally dry weather they did not produce large heads. 



The cabbage root maggot did not give any trouble this season, and seems to have 

 entirely disappeared. The cabbage worm Pieris rapae is increasing, and is found to 

 be a very troublesome pest. 



Twenty plants of each variety were set in rows 30 inches apart, and 24 inches apart 

 in the rows. The yield has been calculated from the produce of one row 33 feet long, 

 there being 1G plants in this area. These were cut and weighed August 18 and 29. 

 The following table gives the varieties in the order of their earliness. Heads of some 

 of the varieties were fit for market before the ISth, and many of the later sorts were 

 not fully developed. 



It was found that Flat Parisian, very early; Express and Early Spring, early; and 

 Vandergaw, later, were the best of all the sorts tested. 



16—25 



