ONIONS. 



In Bulletin No. 18, attention was called to the subject of the cultivation of onions in Jamaica. 



The results on the whole have been fairly satisfactory, and they show that when care is taken, 

 and where there is a fair amount of rain, the onion succeeds. 



On application to Messrs. Hamilton, Teneriffe, for more seed, they stated that it had all boon dis- 

 posed of before May. For the information of those who wish to have the same seed this year, it is 

 well to state that it can be obtained from Messrs. Peter Henderson, 35 Cortlandt St., New York, at 

 the following prices; — 



Pale Red. 10 cts. pkt. ; 25 cts. oz. ; 75 cts. \Vo. : $2 50 lb. 



White. 10 cts pkt. ; 20 cts. oz. ; 60 cts. Jib. ; $2.00 lb. 



During the next season, it is intended to experiment with different varieties to see whether any 

 other is likely to succeed better than the Bermuda onion. 



At Hope Gardens half an acre was sown, and produced 201lbs. weight of onions. At Castleton 

 a square chain yielded 201bs. At Cinchona, the seedlings were almost completely destroyed by 

 grubs, which came up out of the ground at night, and ate the young shoots. A correspondent has 

 kindly sent the following recipe for killing grubs, which will be tried, and may also be useful to 

 others: — "For destroying grubs or cabbage worms ; — lib. Alum dissolved in 3 gallons of water. 

 Dissolve in boiling, and fill up with cold. Water the ground with this every 2 or 3 days." 



Mr. C. L. Walker writes : " The Bermuda Onion Seeds that you kindly let me have turned out 

 well and gave an enormous return. . . . They were manured with old stable manure, and thinned 

 out about 8 inches apart. I did not weigh all the onions, but many weighed from 8 to lOozs. They 

 were grown at Ballards Valley. Annual rainfall 75 inches. We had very dry weather in St. Mary's 

 at the fall of the year. Elevation about 340 feet. Soil, heavy black." 



Mr. Arthur Douet of St. Ann's states that he sowed about 100 seeds, and got 41bs. weight of 

 onions. The seedlings were transplanted. Soil, red earth. Elevation 1,500 feet. Annual rainfall 

 75 inches, of which 10 inches fell during the months the onions were growing. Some of the seeds 

 were given to neighbours, but none grew. 



Mr. A. W. Watson Taylor, of Haughton Grove, Hanover, writes, " A few rows gave a satisfac- 

 tory return of onions for our own use, but I seemed to notice that during the height of the dry wea- 

 ther, watering did not seem to keep up the growth." 



The late Mr. Augustus Thorp, Mahogany Vale, wrote as follows : " The Onion Seed planted in 

 January was 6ozs., covering \\ chains of land in 9 inoh apart drills. The yield upon digging in 

 middle of May was 36N|lbs. Owing to the continued dry weather with the exception of one or two 

 light showers, the onions did not obtain their full growth. The flavour was good and pungent. Had 

 weather been favourable the result would have been most satisfactory. The elevation here is 1,700 

 feet above sea-level, average temperature 75°." 



W. F. 



SOILS. 



The following is an interesting and useful paper on Soils by Mr. P. McMahon, Curator of the 

 Botanic Gardens, Queensland : — 



"There is no subject of more vital interest to the tiller of the ground than the character of the 

 soil which he is called upon to cultivate. In the presence of the audience of practical cultivators of 

 the soil who this evening favour me with their attention, I have thought it better to eschew, u# far as 

 possible, the many interesting problems and circumstunces connected with this subject, when viewed 

 from a scientific standpoint, and to confine myself to a consideration of those questions with which 

 the practical farmer finds himself daily confronted, in the hope that in the discussion which will follow 

 some gentlemen present may be induced to give us the results of their long and varied experience, and 

 hence observation of soils in general, and of the soils of Queensland in particular. For although I 

 should probably be the last person in the world to underrate the value and advantages of theoretical 

 science, I hold, and shall always hold, that agriculture is a science of practice, experience and obser- 

 vation, rather than of chemical formula} and physiological research ; a science of the country rather 

 than of the college ; of the field and farm-yard rather than of the lecture-room and laboratory. You 

 will, no doubt, divine from this expression of a conviction based on some practical research, that the 

 gist of my advice this evening will not be to select a certain six-inch cake of the soil from your field, 

 send it to an analyst, and ask his opinion as to the kind of plants you should grow upon your farms. 

 To attempt to gauge the capabilities of a farm by this method is just as reasonable as to take one 

 soldier out of an army, and to have an opinion of that army's efficiency or otherwise upon the manner 

 in which he would perform his drill. A curious instance of the fallacy of attempting to guide the 

 practical operations of farm from the laboratory came under my notice some time ago. The superin- 

 tendent of a very large estate in India, devoted to the cultivation of tea and other economic products, 

 was requested by his London Board of Directors to send home for analysis samples of tea soils from 

 various parts of the estate. On every Indian estate there are rings of earth known as callc mate 

 (black earth), which are believed to be the sites of ancient village earthenware factories, and upon 

 which no amount of cultivation or manuring will induce a single plant to grow. The superintendent 

 sent home, without comment, a sample of this soil, carefully labelled with name and number, and 

 judge of his surprise when a letter arrived from London, requesting that he would exert himself to, 

 the utmost to extend the cultivation of the tea plant in the earth marked " Calle mate", No. 17," as an 

 elaborate analysis and careful comparison of its chemical constituents with those of the tea plant had 



