470 JOUKNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



polypodium fibre, sphagnum, well -rotted oak leaves and a small quan- 

 tity of dry cow dung. — S. E. W. 



Oncidium Sanderae {Bot. Mag. tab. 8374).— Peru. Family 

 Orchidaceae ; tribe, Vandeae. Epiphyte; leaves, foot long; sepals, 

 reddish-brown, 3 inches long; petals, linear-lanceolate, 2f inches long; 

 hp, 3-lobed, crisped and wavy, yellow spotted with brown. — G. H. 



Onion Manuring'. E. E. Prescott (Jour. Agr. Vict. Feb. 1911, 

 pp. 69,70). — Onion land always benefited by a heavy dressing of well- 

 rotted animal manure of thirty or forty loads to the acre. Nitrate of 

 soda is largely used, applied in three or four sowings, at intervals of 

 two or three weeks, the first application being made when the onions 

 have grown to the size of an ordinary lead pencil. An application of 

 300 lb. to the acre of nitrate of soda increased the crop by four tons, 

 whilst 600 lb. increased the crop by nearly eight tons to the acre. 

 Onion is a surface feeder, chiefly requiring nitrogen; an occasional 

 dressing with potash is beneficial. 



In the Gulf coast States of America onions are largely grown and 

 the yield averages 300 bushels to the acre. The fertilizer in use in 

 those districts is composed of : 



Sulphate of Ammonia (25 per cent.) . . . 2001b. 



Dried Blood . 300 



Cotton-seed Meal . 300 



Acid Phosphate . 800 



Muriate of Potash (50 per cent.) . . . . 400 



G. H. H. 



Orangre Trees, Deep planted. By C. Sprenger {Oester. Gart. 



Zeit. vol. vi., pt. 5, pp. 167-172). — Deep planting is fatal to orange 

 and lemon trees. — S. E, W. 



Orchard Green-Manure Crops in California. By E. McKee 

 {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. hid., Bull. 190, Oct. 1910; 9 figs.).— 

 Californian soils, though often very fertile, are generally deficient in 

 humus, and the practice of green-manuring for the remedying of this 

 defect is now being extensively adopted in the citms orchards of the 

 southern part of the State. When, however, the soil is of so heavy a 

 character that the enforced discontinuance of cultivation allows it to 

 become quite hard and packed, thus permitting very imperfect aeration, 

 green-manuring is not advisable (p. 10). Investigation has shown the 

 superiority of certain crops over others for varying purposes and con- 

 ditions, and no one plant appears to possess all the desirable qualities 

 of the ideal green-manure crop. The plant chosen should be a legume 

 where possible, in order to obtain the increased amount of nitrogen 

 which is collected from the air; it should make good growth, for the | 

 sake of the increase of organic matter to turn under the soil, and it | 

 should be able to stand being trodden upon \N'ith tlie mininmm of injury j 

 where it will be subject to it while in full growth, as in the gathering | 



