July 1 , 1897 .] 
Supplement to the “ Tropical Agriculturist. 
74 
by a crop which is calculated to free the land of 
weeds. Onions need lime for their development, 
and to make good crops they require heavy 
manuring. Commercial fertilizers are better for 
onions than animal manures, since the former 
contain no seed-producing weeds. About 1,500 
lbs. of a fertilizer with the essential ingredients 
in the following proportions is recommended ; — 
Available phosphoric acid, 6 per cent ; potash, 7 
per cent ; and nitrogen, 4 per cent. One practice 
in planting is to use sets or small bulbs grown 
the previous year from thickly-grown seed ; but 
good crops can be raised from the black seed by 
sowing early. Stable manure is objectionable for 
onions for the reason that it fosters the onion 
maggot. On rich humus soils, a maximum of 
phosphoric acid and potash should be applied, and 
only a small quantity of nitrogen. Too much 
nitrogen is also objectionable, as it retards the 
ripening and curing. 
Tomatoes. — Tomatoes prefer a light, warm soil 
though it thrives in other soils as well ; the latter 
situations help in the production of early fruit, 
while heavy soils produce late fruit. A good sub- 
stantial manuring should consist of about 1,200 
lbs. per acre of a fertilizer containing : available 
phosphoric acid, 7 per cent ; potash, 6 per cent ; 
and nitrogen, 4 per cent. The tomato needs a 
good supply of readily-available nitrogen, but 
besides this good supplies of phosphoric acid and 
potash are required. 
The best plan is to sow the seed in shallow 
boxes in a warm situation. As soon as the plants 
have developed the second set of leaves, transplant 
them into other boxes a little deeper and put the 
plants about two inches apart- If they could be 
again transplanted two or three weeks before 
sowing and put about four inches apart so much 
the better. Care should be taken to gradually 
expose the plants more and more so as to harden 
them to the open air and make them stout and 
short. Plants treated in this way could be set out 
with ease and come into fruit a month or more 
sooner than those sown in the open air. In field 
culture the plants are set four by five feet apart, 
but in gardens where room is scarce it is well to 
train them up in some manner, and for this purpose 
galvanized wire netting fastened to stakes is best 
used. Where there is plenty of room larger crops 
can be had by allowing the plants to fall on the 
ground, but keeping the fruits off it. Where 
tomatoes are affected by blight, spray with Bor- 
deaux mixture. 
[^Bordeaux mixture for Tomatoes : — Take 2 oz. 
of sulphate of copper (blue stone) and dissolve in 
half a gallon of water in one vessel, slake 2 oz. 
quicklime in another vessel forming it into a thin 
whitewash. Pour the milk of lime into the sul- 
phate of copper solution slowly through a hair 
sieve, then add enough water to make up 8^ 
gallons ; stir well and apply to every part of the 
plant, coating them evenly with the thinnest 
possible film of the mixture. It will not injure 
green fruit for use, but those near ripening should 
be cut, as it is not desirable to use the mixture 
over ripening fruit. The lime should be quite 
fresh and the blue stone pure.] 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
In a bulletin issued by the Department of Agri- 
culture, N. S. Wales, the following measures are 
recommended for wood borers : Inject turpentine 
or oil into the hole ; cut off infected limbs and 
burn and destroy perfect beetles whenever seen. 
In Bulletin No. 13 of the Department of Agri- 
culture, Brisbane, Mr. Albert Benson writes as 
follows with reference to insects boring into tlie 
roots, stem or branches : These are true boring 
insects, and are usually the larvae of beetles of 
various kinds. Some of these beetles are leaf- 
eaters, and can be destroyed by .spraying with 
Paris green ; others, again, can be destroj'ed )>y 
placing a cloth under the trees and then giving the 
branches a few sharp raps, when all the insects 
will fall to the ground, andean be swept off the 
sheet and destroyed. When the insects are in the 
larval or borer stage, if they are of large .rize they 
can he killed by inserting a fine pliable wire into 
their burrows, or by injecting a small quantity of 
kerosene or turpentine into their burrows, ami 
plugging up the outlet with a piece of soft wood 
01 clay. In any case when borers are at all trouble- 
some, the mature insect (generally beetles) should 
be destroyed whenever and wherever they are 
found. 
We take the following remarks with reference 
to Agricultural bhows from the Cape Agricultural 
Journal : — That Agricultural Shows should be held 
with a two-fold purpose is not often as much con- 
sidered as it ought to be. As a means of afford- 
ing a vast amount of useful information to the 
farming community, there can be no doubt that 
agriculcural exhibitions are excellent institutions. 
The concentration of a large number of high-class 
exhibits in some populous centre, and the keen 
competition that takes place in the various 
classes, must necessarily, serve an important 
educational purpose and furnish reliable medi- 
ums for imparting useful practical knowledge. 
If Agricultural Shows are to be conducted in sirch 
a manner as not to serve an educational purpose, 
then they become worse than useless. To be both 
useful and instructive they must be conducted 
m a manner that the largest number of varied 
exhibits possible will be brought together in com- 
petition for prizes. If we really believe in the 
utility and value of the educational side of the 
Snow, then every facility should be given and 
efforts made to render the suggestive information 
of the Show easily available, especiall.y in the 
interests of any young farmers and men who have 
not many like opportunities. 
Professor Wrightson in his paper, contributed to 
the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, on 
“The Agricultural Lessons of ‘the Eighties’”, 
says : — Of this ive may be assured, that one of 
the greatest lessons taught by the eighties is the 
necessity of the systematic instruction in Agricul- 
ture ill all its branches. 
In the year 1895, the mean rainfall for the ivhole 
of England and Wales was 29 in., for the whole 
of Scotland 39'7 in., and for the whole of Ireland 
36 -8 in. The averages for the last thirty years 
are for the three countries respectively 32 in., 
40’4in., and 39 ’4 in. 
