Reviev)s. 259 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Transactions of the Essex Agricultural Society for 

 the Year 1847. Pamphlet, 8vo. pp. 134. Danvers, 1847. 



The Kssex Agricultural Society is one of the most flourish- 

 ing in the state : its exhibitions are of the most interesting de- 

 scription, particularly in the Horticultural Department, and 

 its annual Transactions contain many interesting reports and 

 valuable essays, which cannot fail to be of the greatest value 

 to every intelligent cultivator. 



The Transactions for the Year 1847 have been before us 

 some time, but we have not been able to find room for all 

 the extracts we had marked. Five Essays, upon the Union, 

 Apple, Pear, Cranberry, and Oak, occupy a large portion of 

 it, and, saving that that upon the pear is a mere compilation and 

 not the result of experience, are of such merit that the Soci- 

 ety voted a premium of tea dollars each. 



The Essay upon the Onion, by J. W. Proctor, Esq , Presi- 

 dent of the Society, is one of the most complete papers we 

 have ever read, and, as the Committee on Essays remark, is 

 an " ideal model" of what such essays should be. We should 

 be glad, if we had room, to copy all Mr. Proctor's Essay, but 

 we only have space for three of the subjects into which it is 

 divided, viz. : — 



1. As to the preparation of the land. 



Differing from most other crops, the onion grows well, on the same land, 

 for an indefinite number of years, histances of continued appropriation of 

 the same pieces of land to the growing of onions, for ten, fiflten, twenty, 

 and even thirty years, have come to our knowledge. It is the opinion of 

 many that the crop is better, after the land has been thus used a few years, 

 than at first. Whether this arises from any influence of the crop upon the 

 soil, or is the eflfect of continued dressing of manures, we have no means of 

 determining. This is certain, that the qualities of the soil necessary for the 

 production of good ciops are not exhausted by continued cultivation. 



Rarely, if ever, have we known the onion sowed upon the turf when first 

 turned over. It is usual to subdue and pulverize the soil, by the cultivation 

 of corn, or some other crop. Not unfrequently the first year with corn, 

 the second with carrots, and afterwards with onions. It is important, be- 

 fore the seed is sown, that the surface be mellow, finely pulverized, and 

 clear of stones or other impediments, to the free and unobstructed use of the 



