Kbw York Agricultural Experiment Station. . 75 



eolution of the smut problem. But whenever this plan in sug- 

 gested onion growers immediately exclaim: " It is not practical; 

 it is too much labor to transplant onions! " We do not wish to 

 enter into a lengthy discussion of the subject here, but we will 

 say that experiments made at several agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions in different parts of the United States have shown that, 

 even when smut is not a factor in the problem, the yield of 

 onions can be greatly increased by transplanting, and that the 

 method possesses certain other advantages which counterbalance 

 the additional labor involved in transplanting. The idea origi- 

 nated with Mr. T. Greiner, of LaSalle, N. Y., who has put it into 

 practice with great success and written a book about it. It is a 

 subject worthy of investigatioh^ by onion growers, especially by 

 those who are having difficulty with smut. 



THE SULPHUR-LIME TREATMENT, 



In his experiments on the treatment of onion fimut in 1889, 

 Dr. Thaxter'^ tried several different chemicals which were applied 

 in the drills at the time of sowing the. seed. The best resnlts 

 were obtained where a mixture composed of equal parts of air- 

 •laked lime and flowers of sulphur was used. Here, the yield of 

 the treated rows was nearly five times as great as that of the 

 •ame number of untreated rows alternating with them. The 

 experiment was on a small scale. During the following season, 

 18&0, another small experiment^ with sulphur and lime gave prao- 

 tioally the same results; namely, about five to one in favor of the 

 treatment. A larger experiment was also planned, but on account 



•For details as to methods and the results of experiments see: The Now 

 Onion Culture, by T. Greiner; Onions for Profit, same author; Bui. Ohio 

 Agr. Exp. Sta., Second Series, Vol. Ill, No. 9; Bui. Tenn. Agr. Exp. Sta., 

 Vol. v., No. 4; N. Dak. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 12; S. Dali. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 Bui. 47; Tex. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 36; Utah Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 45; Aik. 

 Agr. Exp. Sta. Buls. 28 and 56; R. I. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 14; Mich. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. Bui. 79; Wyoming Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 22; TJ. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Farmers' Bui. 39; and Canada Exp. Farms Rep. for 1897, pp. 129-130. 



»L. c, pp. 148-152. 



•Thaxter, R. Further Experiments on the Smut of Onions. Ann. Rep. 

 «onn. Agr. Exp. Sta. for 1890: 103-104. 



