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sale at good prices. The quality is stated to be so excellent, that 

 efforts are being made in other countries to grow onions from Egyp- 

 tian seed. The United States Agent and Consul-General at Cairo 

 says that in all departments of Egyptian agriculture, watering is ac- 

 complished by means of irrigation from the Nile, either directly or 

 from canals. The most popular Egyptian onion, known as Baali, is 

 grown in yellow soil, sparingly watered while the bulbs are maturing, 

 that they might stand a lengthened sea voyage with little risk of 

 sprouting. There are two stages of cultivation, the first covering the^ 

 season of the sprouts for transplanting. Towards the end of August 

 or the beginning of September, the land intended for the onion crop is 

 irrigated from the Nile. After letting the water run off, it is left to 

 dry until the first ploughing when the ploughshares penetrate not 

 deeper than four fingers' breadth. All clods of earth are broken up 

 and pulverised, and the land is divided into plots about ten feet 

 square, and stirred lightly with a matlock — the favourite implement 

 of the Egyptian farmer, which is double headed, one side being broad,, 

 like an adze, and the other like a pickaxe. The seed is then scattered 

 freely and evenly at the rate of about two bushels to the acre. After 

 sowing, a plank is passed lightly over the soil to cover the seed and 

 bring the plots to the same level. The plots are then irrigated, the 

 islets along the Nile being watered four times, and the raised land six 

 times The first irrigation takes place immediately after sowing, and 

 the water is completely absorbed ; a second, and very light watering 

 is given as soon as the plants appear above ground, and the borders of 

 the plots are sprinkled. If the seed is planted in raised land, manure 

 is applied, but if sown in low ground there is no need of manure ; the 

 onions ripen in the first fortnight in October. The second stage 

 covers the period from the transplanted sprouts to the mature onions. 

 Land intended for Baali onions is soil of good quality, with no weeds, 

 or grass, or yellow land of the same quality, and damp enough to. 

 allow the crop to grow and ripen. It is irrigated in September, and 

 it is ploughed three times, the ploughshare penetrating to a depth of 

 about eight inches. After a third, and last, ploughing, the onions are 

 set out in furrows, at a distance of four inches apart. The furrows re- 

 semble wheat furrows, and the earth covers the onions in the second 

 furrow. In ploughing the last time, the cultivator plants the bulbs 

 in the furrow ; the plough, returning in the second furrow covers 

 them. The stalks, or tops, of the seed onions, emerge from the soil to 

 a height of four fingers' breadth or more. Every 20 days the weeds 

 are pulled out, in order that the onions may be clear and allowed to 

 develop. In the month of April the tops die, and the onions are 

 pulled, and when perfectly dry are packed in coarse sacks and sent to 

 market. Baali onions in their second stage are never watered directly. 

 Miskaoui onions absorb so much moisture from the frequently irrigated 

 ground in which they grow that they are seldom exported. They are 

 sown in the same way as the Baali, that is, the sprouts are used as 

 seed, and any kind of soil can be used. The land is irrigated at the 

 beginning of September, and, after the water has run off, it is left to 

 dry until it can be ploughed. It is ploughed twice, and divided into 

 plots 10 feet square, each furrow being a little over two inches deep 

 and nearly five inches wide. The plants are laid in the furrows, at 



