309 



Dr. C. T. Dewar, Duncans. — The seeds germinated well but many 

 died off after a week or so. Those that matured were go d and equal 

 to the usual shop onion. I think the next lot of seed will do better as 

 the place they were planted in was very hot and dry and this can be 

 avoided in future. 



Mr. A. C. Martin, Cross Keys. — Onion seeds sown on 17th Septem- 

 ber, 1895, in land manured by sheep. Seedlings thinned out and trans- 

 planted, November 11, 1895, in a bed measuring 18 feet x 24 feet, in 

 rows 18 inches apart (12 rows to bed). 691bs. well cured onions of good 

 size and flavour gathered from end of February to 15th March, 1896. 

 Rainfall from date of sowing seed till gathering of crop, 32 ' 83 inches, 

 as follows : — 



Inches. 



September 17th to 30th ... 1 • 82 



October ... 17 13 



November ... 4' 10 



December ... No rain 



January, 1896 ... 4 '76 



February ... 1-22 



March to 15th ... 3 '80 



I gave away a portion of the seeds to Mr E. W. Miles, Stines Hope, 

 and Mr. H. C. Sturridge, Mandeville. 



Inspector McLeod, Montego Bay. — The Bermuda onion seeds you 

 kindly gave me were excellent, and all the seeds I sowed in November 

 germinated. My garden here is in the town, and as I could only find 

 room for a couple of beds of onions, I sowed the seeds in boxes and 

 transplanted them into beds when about 3 inches high ; they all bulbed 

 and many of the bulbs weighed 6 to 7 ozs. each. I gave some of the 

 seeds to a Corpl. at Maroon Town and he grew some larger onions than 

 I did. I sowed the balance of the seeds in February, but few germin- 

 ated. I took the crop in a few days ago and the bulbs were less than 

 half the size of the first lot. This may be attributable to the seeds 

 having been kept too long, but I rather think the dry weather and heat 

 of Montego Bay retarded their growth. 



Mr. A. Byron Ventresse, Bethel Town. — I regret being unable to 

 give exact date of planting of Bermuda onion seeds kindly supplied by 

 your department in 1895. The ground was prepared on the ruins of 

 an old house. Elevation about 1,600 feet. A bed 10 feet square was 

 sown closely following directions in November, 1895, Bulletin ; in 

 addition seeds were also planted in two boxes, from which the vacant 

 spots in the bed were supplied as all the seeds did not seem to grow 

 well. The onions fully matured in March and the last were taken up 

 about the 8th April. By keeping a careful account of weight the bed 

 10 x 10 yielded 501bs. of good marketable onions. Some of the largest 

 were quite eleven inches in circumference and 6 ozs. in weight. Only 

 ordinary pen manure was used. The flavour and edible qualities of the 

 onions were quite equal to what we have often had in Bermuda where 

 the same variety of onions was grown. 



Mr. Thos. Mair, Stony Hill. — From the onion seed supplied by 

 you last year, we had a return of from 14 to 16 lbs. of good onions, 

 some of the bulbs being about the size of an ordinary hen's egg. The 



