884 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. [March 1895. 



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

 rate of about one peek of light manure for each plot is applied, 

 but if sown in low ground there is no need of manure. A third 

 watering is given 10 days after the second, and a fourth 10 days 

 after the third, the plots being filled with water in the fourth 

 stage. After the last watering, both islets and raised, lands 

 remain undisturbed for 10 days. The onions ripen in the first 

 fortnight in October and are then unearthed. 



The second stage of cultivation covers the period from the 

 transplanted sprouts to the mature onions. The best land intended 

 for " Baali " onions is either " islet-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 after letting the water run ofi* is left to dry 

 until it can be ploughed. It is ploughed three times, the 

 ploughshare penetrating to a depth of about 8 inches. After 

 the third and last ploughing the onions are set out in furrows 

 at a distance of 4 inches apart. 



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 fre- 

 quently irrigated ground in which they grow that they are 

 seldom sent abroad. They are sown in the same way as the 

 " Baali " — that is, the sprouts are used as seed, and any grade of 

 soil can be made use of. I'he land is irrigated at the beginning 

 of September, and after the water has run ofi^, it is left to dry 

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

 plots 10 feet square, each furrow being 2| inches deep and nearly 

 5 inches wide. The plants are laid in the furrows at distances 

 of 4 inches, and the water is immediately let in. The second 

 irrigation occurs in 12 days, and the third in 24 days; after 

 this the soil is watered every eight days. The numlDer of 

 waterings is, therefore, 11 or 12. The ground is then left 10 

 days without watering, and the onions ripen and are unearthed. 

 They are known to be mature when the tops become dry. 



The cultivator plants the sprouts in the furrows head down, 

 burying them to a depth of four fingers' breadth, and lets in the 

 water, as stated above. The unearthing of the " Miskaoui;" as 

 well as the Baah," is done with the hand if the soil be yellow, 

 and with a mattock in the case of black soil. 



It may be observed here that in 1893 the imports into the 

 United Kingdom of raw onions from Egypt amounted to 997,648 

 bushels of the value of 196,163?. The total imports into the 



