1040 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Spring (or Summer) Onions. 



While we have been very successful in growing AYinter Onions, Spring 

 (or Summer) Onions have proved a difficult crop to grow in several years, 

 owing to the difficulty of getting a good plant in stiff soil during the dry 

 seedtime. Drought and wire worm — one or both — rendered the crops 

 so irregular and unsatisfactory in some years that they were really not 

 worth recording. In 1900 and 1901, however, we succeeded in raising 

 really fine crops. The results for these two years are shown in the 

 following table : — 



SPRING (OR SUMMER) ONIONS. 





Annual cost 



Weight of Onions per acre 



Annual manuring per acre 



of manure 











per acre 



1900 



1901 





£ s. d. 



tons 



cwt. 



tons cwt. 



50 loads (25 tons) London Dung . 



10 0 0 



8 



11 



10 7 



25 loads (12^ tons) London Dung . 



5 0 0 



7 



0 



11 11 



25 loads Dung, Phosphates (no Potash), and 











2 cwt. Nitrate of Soda .... 



(5 15 0 



7 



7 



9 12 



Ditto, ditto (with Potash) .... 



7 5 0 



8 



16 



11 16 



25 loads Dung, Phosphates (no Potash), and 











4 cwt. Nitrate of Soda .... 



7 15 0 



8 



18 



9 15 



Ditto, ditto (with Potash) .... 



8 5 0 



9 



10 



8 14 



25 loads Dung, Phosphates (no Potash), and 











6 cwt. Nitrate of Soda .... 



8 15 0 



10 



2 



10 12 



Ditto, ditto (with Potash) .... 



9 5 0 



10 



0 



11 8 



Xo Dung; Phosphates (no Potash) and 8 cwt. 











Nitrate of Soda 



4 15 0 



1 



6 



5 2 



Ditto, ditto (with Potash) .... 



5 5 0 



6 



1 



8 0 



It will be seen that chemical fertilisers, used in addition to a moderate 

 quantity of dung, produced in 1900 a highly valuable return, and that it 

 proved advantageous in that season to use as much as 6 cwt. of nitrate 

 of soda per acre. Even 2 cwt. of nitrate per acre, in conjunction with 

 phosphates, potash salts, and a light dressing of dung, gave a better yield 

 than the heavy dressing of dung, showing once again the danger of 

 relying upon town dung without the aid of further fertilisers if we are to 

 be sure that the soil will give its best yield. In 1901, however, the use 

 of chemical fertilisers yielded no profit, for, for some reason or other, the 

 light dressing of dung produced a full crop alone. 



Chemical fertilisers alone, without the aid of dung, gave much less 

 satisfactory results than when a moderate quantity of dung was used in 

 conjunction with them. The great dependence of Onions not only upon 

 phosphates and nitrogen, but also upon potash salts, is strongly shown in 

 both years on the plot which has been throughout the experiments kept 

 without dung. 



Trii'oli (Winter) Onions. 



Tripoli Onions have failed us only in two seasons, namely, in 1895 

 and 1899, owing to drought. From 189G to 1900 we grew excellent 

 crops, and in 1900 only a light crop. 



Tripoli Onions are sown in the summer, and live in the ground 

 through the winter, maturing in the following summer ; and the results 



