lo Feb.. 191 I ■] 



1:1011 C iiitir 



61 



at the rate of 5 or 6 acres per day ; while the daily skimming of onions 

 amounts to 4 or 5 acres per d.iy. The cost of a skimmer is approxi- 

 mately £5. 



Plaxting and Cultivation. 



Onion seed must be fresh. Old seed will not germinate freely ; nor can 

 i* be depended upon to produce strong growing, vigorous plants. The 

 .seed should be of the previous season's production. Bailey's experiments 

 in longevitv of seeds showed that onion seed of this age carries the greater 



percentage of sound s(.'cils (■ai),ililp of fr.'eh u'l-niiiii.iiiiiL:. Seed two years 



THE SKIMMER. 



old germinated only at 56 per cent. ; while of seed three years old, only 

 31 per cent, were vital. The fact that extra care should be exercised in 

 the purcha.se of onion seed is shown by the result of a germinating test 

 of some seeds that were recently forwarded for testing purposes to Pro- 

 fessor Ewart by a se^^d.sman to whom they had been supi)lied as good sound 

 seed. The germination test gave ihe low result of onlv 2 and 3 per cent, 

 of <'iK}(\ Sf-eds 



A.NUIIIKK \ IhW 01 IIIK .sKI.Ni.MI-.K. 



I'he '■ new " metiiod of onion ( uhiwition. which is largely ui vogue in 

 America, is to plant the wiioli- of the onion .seeds in seed-beds, from which 

 the onions are subsequently tr.inspl.mted into the onion fieUls. Tt '^ 



