FRUIT-CULTURE. 281 



out. Perliaps some of you can tell me. I have been asked 

 that question, I presume, a thousand times since midsummer. 

 Perhaps Mr. • Slade, who has been investigating the straw- 

 berry', can answer it. I cannot. 



Question. How late would you plant onions in the fall 

 for early spring onions? 



Capt. Moore. I don't raise them that way. I simply 

 raise them as a crop for the market, — three acres. That is 

 all that I sow in the spring. 



Mr. Philbrick. I can answer that question. We usually 

 sow them from the 20th of July to the first of August. 



Capt. Moore. Wouldn't you plant sets in the spring, 

 rather than sow the onions in August? 



Mr. Philbrick. If they failed to keep over, I would plant 

 sets. Sometimes winter onions keep very well. When they 

 do, they are more profitable than sets, because it costs very 

 much less. Then, they need very rich land ; and they need 

 to be sown upon land that drains easily, so that there shall 

 not be any wash upon them in winter ; and sometimes we give 

 them a little covering, such as broken boughs, — very much 

 such covering as we giye strawberries. 



Mr. Slade. I will answer the question in regard to tur- 

 nips. The trouble in planting French turnips is, that we are 

 apt to plant them too early ; and, after they have taken hold 

 and grown a wliile, they will stop growing, and the leaf will 

 turn yellow and finally drop off, and it is uncertain whether 

 they will take a new start and go on or not ; and, if they do, 

 they are apt to be of inferior quality. Some years ago I 

 raised five or six hundred bushels on an acre. I planted them 

 the twenty-second da}' of June, — planted them by hand, — 

 and they came up, and did nicely until about the 20th of 

 August ; then they turned yellow, stopped growing, remained 

 so for a time, and after a while they started again, and 

 finally matured : but they were very poor ; they were watery, 

 and some of them were rotten inside. Now, the way to raise 

 those turnips successfully is to get your ground in order late: 

 put them in, and force them right through. The best turnip 

 is one that does not stop growing : it goes on from the time 

 that it takes root until it matures. 



Mr. Philbrick. Wlien would you recommend sowing 

 them ? 



