412 



CERTAIN INSECT AND FUNGUS PESTS. 



The New Onion Culture Again. — Several readers 

 ask for more information on this subject. We have this 

 year planted only about one-quarter of an acre in the 

 new way, mostly of Prize-taker and White Victoria 

 onions. The heavy planting done in onions this season 

 may prove that this was a wise move. Perhaps it might 

 have been still wiser to plant for this season, only the 

 quicker maturing White Victoria onions, or any other 

 ordinary earlier sort, as for instance, the Yellow 

 Dutch. With these sorts, the one advantage which the 

 transplanting method gives over the old way, namely, 

 that it enables the grower to market his onions in ad- 

 vance of the bulk of the ordinary crop, and receive an 

 extra price, must appear especially desireable in a sea- 

 son of over-production. In this respect truly the early 

 bird catches the worm. The only fault we have yet dis- 

 covered in the Prize-taker onion is its lateness. 



This season, with the exception of its lateness, has 

 been extremely favorable for transplanting, as the soil 

 and atmosphere have been cool and moist most of the 

 time. The boys who transplant onions have learned 

 that the plants stand up much better after being set out, 

 and seem to recover from the check much more prompt- 

 ly, when a good share of their tips are twisted off. They 

 also claim they can handle them much more convenient- 

 ly, and plant them more quickly when topped about one- 

 halt. 



Usually it will be safe, and even prudent, to sacrifice 

 advantages in variety and yield, if need be, for the sake 

 of securing an early-maturing onion-crop. A week's dif- 

 ference in time may make a material difference in the 

 price obtained per bushel. The reader will see the 

 urgency of sowing and transplanting onions as early as 



practicable. For this section it is better to sow seed in 

 February, than in March, and a greenhouse kept moder- 

 ately warm is better than a hot-bed ; cold frames will 

 not answer. If hot-beds are used, they should have a 

 moderate but lasting heat. In cold, unfavorable weather, 

 many of the seeds, unless given sufficient bottom-heat, 

 lie dormant for a long time, and the grower may fail to 

 get a good stand until too late. 



Last year we lost a good many of our young plants in 

 the beds. The tips of all the plants turned yellow, and 

 then dwindled down and died. Many of our readers 

 have come to us with complaints of the same nature. We 

 believe the trouble to be in improper preparation of the 

 soil. This year we used a large proportion of river-sand 

 in our hotbed soil, and the plants all grew vigorously 

 and remained healthy. 



A little patch of 25 varieties of onions, started from 

 seed, now joins the one-quarter acre mentioned. This 

 will give us a fair opportunity for comparisons. We also 

 sowed quite a patch of Barletta onion for pickling pur- 

 poses. They are so very early that we think it likely 

 they could be used for late sowing, perhaps even up to 

 July, and still come to maturity ; at least we will make 

 the trial. These onions always sell well. 



As a further instance of the importance of earliness in 

 marketing onions, we will mention that Professor Green 

 of the Ohio Experiment Station starts Barletta onions 

 under glass, and transplants them as we do Prizetaker 

 and Victoria. He pulls the crop for green bunching- 

 onions, and although quite small they sell exceedingly 

 well, because there are no other bunch-onions in the 

 market at that time to depreciate the prices paid for this 

 small Italian variety. 



CERTAIN INSECT AND FUNGOUS PESTS. 



HOW TO DISTINGUISH AND DESTROY THEM. 



' V^T IS chiefly in midsummer that insects 

 and fungous diseases vex the soul of 

 the gardener and tax his invention for 

 methods of destroying them. Some 

 of those found most troublesome 

 among fruits and vegetables, and 

 some new enemies lately discovered and named, are 

 fully described below, with practical methods for treat- 

 ing them. 



WEED-DESTRUCTION AN AID IN FIGHTING FUNGOUS 

 DISEASES. 



The complete exemption from fungous diseases which 

 is said to be a characteristic feature of gardens in Japan, 

 may possibly be the direct result of the thoroughness 

 with which the Japanese are known to destroy all weed- 

 growth on their cultivated lands. Undoubtedly there is 

 a much more intimate relation between weed-growth and 

 diseases of cultivated plants than the average soil-tiller 

 imagines. Wild plants, including weeds, act in many 

 cases as breeders of fungous parasites, and aid in spread- 

 ing them. Prof. Byron D. Halstead, in The Botanical 

 Gazette, mentions as follows a number of instances of 



this baneful influence of weeds, wild plants and trees : 

 " The lettuce-mildew is found upon no less than forty- 

 one species of plants belonging to the same family as 

 lettuce. Many of these hosts of the mildew are com- 

 mon garden-weeds, and others inhabit uncultivated 

 ground. The celery-rust, now so destructive among truck- 

 ers, is common to the carrot and parsnip also, and as 

 wild forms of these are abundant we need not wonder 

 that the garden plants are partly destroyed by this 

 pest. There is a mildew of the spinage, Feronospora 

 effusa, Gr., that flourishes upon the pigweeds generally, 

 there being no less than ten of these weeds to furnish a 

 propagating place for the mildew of their patrician 

 cousin. The bean-rust makes its home upon several 

 species of wild beans. But of wider range than any 

 species yet mentioned is the mildew of the pea, which 

 renders it almost impossible to grow late peas. Thi3 

 fungus preys upon plants of at least six large and widely 

 separated families. The mildew of the cabbage and 

 turnip is not an unmixed evil however, for because of its 

 wide range it attacks the shepherd's-purse, various 

 mustards, and a number of other weeds. 



