’wh-ere we have h'>t dry summers to contend 
with. If we do rot plant our onions early, we 
cannot average more than half a crop. First 
prepare the land by manuring well with rotten 
manure, cow or hog manure is best and may he 
used fresh. Where laud is too heavy and clayev 
to work well put on a sufficient quantity of sand 
and manure to make a nice mellow soil. Land 
prepared in the fall or early winter can be p aut- 
ed earlier than if leftun'il spring, and will pro¬ 
duce a crop of early onions if properly cultiva 
ted that will surprise the grower, and such land 
will do to grow onions on an indefinite length 
of time providing it arets a coat of manure or 
some good fertilizer well worked in every fall. 
Land thus prepared, if properly managed should 
and will grow some other crop after onions 
come off. Three crops can be grown on laud 
wh^n in a high state of cultivation if the season 
is favorable. The next step to be taken after 
preparing land is to procure good s*ed from 
eonie reliable deahr, ch*-ap seed nine times out 
ofhn will be dear in the end. For early on¬ 
ions, seed should be sown in op £< n ground from 
the middle of February to the tenth of March, 
providing the land can be put in proper condi¬ 
tion to receive the seed. But if the land is too 
wet and heavy and cannot be worked by that 
time 1 would then sow seed thickly on miid hot¬ 
bed in rows about two inches apart, and grow 
plants to he transplanted in open ground. It is 
le-^s labor to set an acre in plants than to sow 
the same laud with seed and then hand weed 
young plants the first time they are worked. If 
seed are sown in hot-bed and plants transplant¬ 
ed in the open ground, you can destrov one crop 
of weeds before transplanting, and your plants 
wid get *-tarted before the second crop of weeds 
comeson. Yours Truly, (i. W. T. 
FLAT CULTIVATION FOR POTAOFS. 
Rockford, Minn., Nov. 20,1882. 
I. F. Til.inghast; 
Dear Sir: The seeds I re 
ceived from you last spring were as near per¬ 
fect as any I ever purchased of any one. The 
onion seed especially was excellent. I sowed the 
While Portugal seed at 1 ss than three pounds 
per acre, and bad to thin out a good deal to give 
room for onions to form. The one pound of B-lle 
potatoes was cut to single eyes and put iu a 
box of sand and put in the house, and f auspiant- 
ed to the open ground when the weather was 
warm e ,ough. Soil a clay loam, on a hard clay 
subsoil. Previous crop for several years, wheat 
with no manure whatever, as far back as known 
Cultiva ion fiat, mostly with a Planet Jr. Wheel 
Hoe. Total yield 82± lbs. Total yield ol eat¬ 
able size 72i lbs. Largest po ato weighed If lbs. 
Larg-st four potat es weighed 5£ lbs. No. oi 
«eyes 48, and 2 sprouts. Quality good. 
Yours &e,, E. K. Smith. 
We see there is a strong feeling com ng up in 
favor of flat cultivation for potatoes. We have 
always practiced hilling, but tniuk we shall give 
the flat culture a trial an ther year. We 
hope others will also, and report the comparative 
results.—E d. 
HOW HE DID IT. 
St. John’s Asylum, Ky., Nov. 20, 1882. 
Mr. Isaac F. Tillinghast; 
Dsar Sir, The seed I 
reoeived of you last spring did splendidly. The 
True Jersey Wakefield cabbage beat all I ever 
saw. I raised, eight hundred plants from the 
package, and every one of them headed up solid. 
The Red Wethersfield onion seed, I planted and 
raised some that weighed a pound. The celery 
seed I got of you produced some of the finest cel¬ 
ery I ever saw. My neighbors say it cannot be 
beat. I will tell you how I raised it. It is my 
first attempt. First I sowed the seed in a plant 
bed the tenth of May, and the first of July I set 
the plants in a trench about eighteen inches deep 
filled with rotbd manure, I set plants ten inches 
apart. I hoed it once, and about the middle of 
Sepumht-r I tried a process for bleaching which 
beats anything I ever saw. I pulled some crab 
grass, (that’s what we call it,) and wrapped it 
around the celery from the bottom to ttie top, 
leaving the top open, then I drawed some earth 
up to it to hold the grass I never bothered it 
more until the 15th ot this month, then I re¬ 
moved it to my cellar. It was as white as chalk 
and as cleau as if it had been washed. I think 
I shall raise an acre next season. Seed-Time 
and Harvest is a welcome v si tor at my house, 
it comes regularly and it is one of the best pa¬ 
pers I take. Long may it survive! 
(Yours Truly, J. P Ellis. 
Thanks, for your report. We have been think¬ 
ing that something ought to be put around cel¬ 
ery to keep it clean. We are glad to receive 
instructive items for publication.— Ed. 
pyrethrum. 
Charlotte, Me., Dec. 1882. 
Mr. Editor;—Will you be kind enough to state 
in next number of Seed Time and Harvest 
what kind of soil, climate and cultivation, Py- 
re hrutn Cinerariafolium requires. Will you 
have some of the seeds to sell next season? If it 
will grow in the open air in our climate. I for 
one would like to try the experiment of plant¬ 
ing some among some potatoes squashes and oth¬ 
er plants wh ch are injured by insect enemies. 
We have never experiment! d with Pyrethium 
plants. Should be pleased to have reports from 
any of our readers who have. We doubt, how¬ 
ever whether growing the plants among vegeta¬ 
bles would keep insects off. It is the blossoms 
finely ground into a powder which is used as an 
insecticide. 
ANOTHER POTATO REPORT. 
Dalton, Muskegon Co., Mich., Jan. 26, 1883. 
Isaac F. Tillinghast, Esq., 
, Dear Sir,—I had in¬ 
tended before now to have given y< u the result 
ol my venture on one fourth bushel of Belle po¬ 
tatoes, and one half bound of WaL’s Orange pur¬ 
chased of you for last spring’s planting, but not 
finding time before, I now come to it. I planted 
seven and one half pounds of the Belle, iu good 
