REPORT OF THE HORTIGULTURIST. 



129 



EXPERIMENTS WITH ONIONS. 



In growing onions this season, the percentage of *' thick necks " was remarkably 

 large. This characterized the crop from transplanted as well as untransplanted plots. 

 The soil was well drained, sandy loam, top-dressed in the spring with rotted barn-yard 

 manure. The following table gives the yield of 23 varieties. The yields of good onions 

 are phenomenally small, and that of " thick necks " astonishingly heavy. This term 

 " thick necks " is a mai-ket gardeners' name applied to onions that form an unmer- 

 chantable product with thick fleshy necks and small bulbs, I know of no satisfactory 

 explanation of this peculiarity of the onion to revert to original types, unless it be 

 faulty seed selection. Strasburg (yellow) was one of the best. Paris Silver Skin, 

 Large Portugal, and Early Red Globe were a few of those most satisfactory. 



Onions. — Test of "Varieties. — All sown in rows 20 feet long. 



Varieties. 



Seedsman. 



White. 



Early Barletta .... 

 Paris Silver Skin . . . 

 Victoria, Italian. ... 

 Large Portugal .... 



II Globe 



Bermuda 



The Queen 



Oxonian Prize 



English Pickling 



Excelsior n 

 Welsh 



Red, 



Creole 



Early Globe 



Globe Maderia 



Giant Rocca red . . . 



Flat Maderia 



Large Globe 



Yellow, 



Globe Dan vers 



Globe 



Danvers 



Strasburg 



Globe Spanish 



Giant Rocca yellow 



Thorbum, 



Ewing... . 



II . . . . 

 Thorbum , 



Date 



of 



Sowing 



Seed. 



May 13. 



M 13. 



.. 13. 



I. 13. 



II 13. 



,1 13. 



,1 13. 



I, 13. 



M 15. 



11 15. 



M 15. 



13. 

 13. 

 13. 

 13. 

 13. 

 13. 



15. 

 15. 

 15. 

 15. 

 15. 

 15. 



Yield 

 of Good 

 Onions. 



Lbs. Oz. 



2 



7 



io 



6 



1 



2 

 7 

 3 



'4 

 1 



8 

 8 



8 

 8 



3 8 



'6 '.'. 

 12 8 



Yield 



of 



Thicknecks. 



Lbs. Oz. 



28 

 20 

 18 

 10 



9 

 18 

 11 



7 



20 

 14 



1 



6 



34 



10 



16 



1 



13 8 



17 .. 



14 8 

 13 .. 



18 8 



14 8 



8 

 8 



8 



8 

 8 



Remarks. 



Rough and very poor. 



Large, flat, coarse. 



All thicknecks. 



Large, flat, solid. 



Large, sinooth. 



Flat, medium to small, rough ; 



germinated poorly. 

 Flat, rough ; not a good onion in 



the row. 

 All thicknecks. 

 Grew too large for pickling. 



ti 11 



Of the leek type. 



Bad seed. 

 A standard. 



Resembled leeks. 

 Rough, pink and white, poor. 

 Large round dark red, uniform in 

 size, quite solid. 



Very small, round,rather irregular. 



Smooth, globe shaped, good. 

 Very large but all neck. 



TRANSPLANTING ONIONS. 



Some interesting data appears in the following tables upon this subject. It may 

 be seen (1) that three sowings were made in the hotbed at intervals of 12 days apart ; 

 (2) the plants were all set in the field on the same day ; (3) that the total yield of 

 merchantable onions is much greater for the third sowing than either of the other two — 

 in fact more than the product of the two combined ; (4) the yield of good and bad 

 onions is larger for the third sowing than either of the other two series ; (5) the first 

 8a— 9 



