63 



develop. In the month of April the tops die, and the onions are 

 pulled, and when perfectly dry are packed in coarse sacks and sent to 

 market. Baali onions in their second stage are never watered directly. 

 Miskaoui onions absorb so much moisture from the frequently irrigated 

 ground in which they grow that they are seldom exported. They are 

 sown in the same way as the Baali, that is, the sprouts are used as 

 s ed, and any kind of soil can be used. The land is irrigated at the 

 beginning of September, and, after the water has run off, it is left to 

 dry until it can be ploughed. It is ploughed twice, and divided into 

 plots 10 feet square, each furrow being a little over two inches deep 

 and nearly five inches wide. The plants are laid in the furrows at 

 distances of four inches, and the water is immediately let in. The 

 seconi irrigation takes place in twelve days, and the third in 24 days; 

 after this, the soil is watered every eight days; the ground is then 

 left ten days without watering, and the onions ripen and are unearthed ; 

 they are known to be mature when the tops become dry. The culti- 

 vator plants the sprouts in the furro^vs, head downwards, burying them 

 to the depth of four fingers' breadth. — [Journal of the Society of Arts.'\ 



Bermuda Onions in Antigua. 



By Archibald Spooner. 

 I'roni Bulletin, Jamaica, May, — July, 1898. 



Ths cultivation of the White Bermuda Onion is gradually being ex- 

 tended here, and in a few years I think will form an important article 

 ef export. The secret of success seems to be the choosing of r.ither 

 poorish clay loam soil containing a fair amount of lime, such as a run- 

 down cane piece, and avoiding any manure, especially artificial manure; 

 on rich land or where manure is used, onions will hardly form bulbs, 

 but all the growth goes to leaves .nd stems. I have grown onions in 

 Yictoria, Australia, where it was always held that heavy manuring 

 was necessary', but here in the tropics the reverse seems the case. 



The following hints may be useful. Use onlv "Bermuda onion 

 seed" either " red" or " white." The seed comes from Tene; iffe ; neither 

 Spanish. Italian nor Madeira onion seed is of any use ii Antigua, the 

 plants never bulb satisfastorily, but grow either too thick necks or 

 divide up the roots like shallots. The best soil is rather a heavy cal- 

 careous loam that crumbles on the top to a fine mould by the action of 

 sun and rain, and is thus easy to weed. The land must not be too rich, 

 a cant^ piece from wliich old ratonns have been cut is quite rich enough 

 without any nmnure. Of course it must be properly drained. On land 

 of the above description, manure, especially artificial manure like sul- 

 phate of ammonia or guano, does harm, the onions ne irly all runninj' 

 to top and not to bulb. The seed should be sown in boxes in a good 

 sandy loam, quite shallow not more than a quaiter of an inch of soil 

 c 'veiiiig the seed, and special care should be taken to compact the soil 

 round the sted, for which purpose the rows may be pounded with the 

 edge of a brick, the earth may then be watered and kept dam • but not 

 too wet or many of the young plants will die ; in seven days mosi of 

 the see i will be above ground. Never use any manure, especially dung 

 manure in the seed boxes, the young plants arc very liable indeed to 

 bo killed by nematode worms and these are ahvays ^orst in soil enriched 

 with dung. The young onions oome up all right, but when about 1^-2 



