214 



coal over tlic bed, in Avliich substance, he states, the female 

 fly will deposit its eggs as readily as upon the plant ; if this 

 charcoal dust should be gathered up and destroyed, the 

 laniC are killed ; and such a process has been considered 

 to be the best. 



It is also noticed that some raisers have secured good 

 crops by allowing their beds to remain unsown for eight 

 or ten days after they have been prepared ; indeed until 

 the Aveeds have appeared, when if a layer of straw a few 

 inches deep be placed upon the bed, and set fire to, the mis- 

 chief can be prevented and good results from the ashes of 

 the combustibles. Others have used with good success the 

 scrapings from the blacksmith's hearth. Others recommend 

 a change of the ground upon which to sow the onion, and 

 others have succeeded by planting upon ground previously 

 used for the cultivation of strawberries. 



In raising seed, it has been suggested that the Ijulbs em- 

 ployed be dipped, before planting out, into a puddled mix- 

 ture of earth, soot and water ; or else into oil soap, or into 

 gas water or gas tar, in order to drive away by its offensive 

 smell, the insects ; as it is a common opinion that insects 

 shun strong scents, of a volatile character especially. 



It appears to your Committee that much efficacy may be 

 expected from the use of charcoal and ashes when strewed 

 upon the land, and from the employment of less animal and 

 putrefying manures, using instead those of a mineral nature. 

 Such suggestions however are to be considered the rather 

 by those interested in the onion crops. 



2. As to the second agency found so destructive in the 

 cultivation of the onion your Committee report that the 

 smnt found growing in the leaves of the onion plant has 

 been examined under the microscope ; but the specimens 

 used were so imperfect that no information of a decisive 

 character has been obtained. It is evident that the smut of 

 the onion is a parasitical fingus which originates and devel- 

 opes itself vfithin the cellular tissues of the leaves, looking 

 in some stages of growth like the filaments of a Botrytis. 

 It makes its appearance upon the first leaf and descends to- 

 wards the root, destroying the texture and rendering the 

 leaf spongy and streaked with a black dust. Perhaps then, 

 it may originate from the use of too much putrescent mat- 

 ter in the soil, helped towards development ])y a peculiar 

 low and damp atmosphere. The use of muscle-bed mud for 



