64 



inches high, shrivel up just at the ground level and die. If you can- 

 not get soil free from these pests, put your earth into an oven and bake 

 it before sowing the seed : this is a good plan any way. us the weed 

 seeds are killed too. Plant the young plants out when about as thick 

 as a slate pencil, about 6 inches apart in the rows, and the rows far 

 enough apart to work a hand hoe between. 



The best month for sowing seed here is October, planting out the 

 young plants in November. The onions will be fit to pull about March, 

 when the rains have stopped, and they can ripen up in the dry soil. 

 When the leaves are yellowish, the onions can be pulled up and l<-f t 

 on ihe ground for a few days to harden, then moved to a shaded but 

 windy place and thoroughly dried until the tops are quite brown and 

 can be pulled off without showing a green centre shoot, they will then 

 keep for 2 or 3 months at least, in a cool and airy place, us long as 

 they are not piled up in a heap or in barrels. Several caterpillars or 

 moths attack the plant here at all stages, especially a black caterpillar; 

 look out for these about a week before new moon, and pick them off. 



Rkports. 

 From Bulletin, Jamaica, October, 1891. 



At Hope Gardens half an acre was sown, and produced 201 lbs. 

 weight of onions. At Castleton a square chain yielded 20 lbs. At 

 Cinchona the seedling: s were almost completely destroyed by grubs, 

 which came up out of the ground at night, and ate the young s oots. 

 A correspondent has kindly sent the following recipe for killing grubs, 

 which proved successful : — " For destroying grubs or cabbage worms :~ 

 1 lb. Alum dissolved in 3 gallons of water. Dissolve in boiling, and 

 fill up with cold. Water the ground with this every two or three days." 



Mr. C. L. Walker writes: "The Bermuda Onion seeds that you 

 kindly let me have turned out well and gave an enormous return. . . . 

 They were manured with old stable manure, and thinned out to about 8 

 inches apart. I did not weigh all the onions, but many weighed from 

 8 to 10 ozs. They were grown at Ballard'.s Valley. Annual rainfall 

 75 inches. We had very dry weather in St. Mary at the fall of the 

 year. Elevation about 340 feet. Soil, heavy black." 



Mr. Arthur Douet, St. Ann, states that he sowed about 100 seeds, 

 and got 4 lbs. weight of onions. The seedlings were transplanted. Soil, 

 red earth. Elevation 1,500 feet. Annual rainfall 75 inches, of which 

 10 inches fell during the months the onions were growing. Some of 

 the seeds were given to neighbours, but none grew. 



Mr. A. W. Watson Taylor, Haughton Grove, Hanover : — A few rows 

 gave a satisfactory return of oniims for our own use, bu; I noticed 

 that during the height of the dry weather watering did not seem to 

 keep up the growth. 



Mr. Augustus Thorp, Mahogany Vale: — The onion seed planted in 

 January was 6 ozs., covering 1^ chains of land in 9 inch apart drills. 

 The yield upon digging in middle of May was 36^ lbs. Owing to the 

 continued dry weathef with the exception of one or two light showers, 

 the onions did not obtain their full growth. The flavour was good and 

 pungent. Had weather been favourable the result would have been 

 most satisfactory. The elevation here is 1,700 feet above the sea -level, 

 and the average temperature 75°. 



