120 
AMERICANS AGRICULTURIST. 
[March 
upon a sieve which allows the soil to be sepa¬ 
rated. The sets heat readily, and should be 
spread in an airy place in layers of three or 
four inches. 
Planting Onion Sets. 
Even where onions can be readily raised 
from seeds, many prefer the sets. The crop 
is more sure, mucli of the early weeding is 
avoided, and, above all, the planting may be 
done in autumn when the work need not be 
hurried. The soil is made as rich as for seed, 
and thoroughly fine and mellow by the harrow 
and rake. Rows 12 inches apart are marked 
off, and the sets planted at three or four 
inches apart. They are thrust down into the 
mellow soil with the thumb and finger, tak¬ 
ing care to get them right end up. Finish 
by passing a light roller or the back of a 
wooden rake over the rows. Each seventh 
mark is left unplanted ; this leaves an alley 
from which the weeding maylbe done. If the 
sets are not planted in the fall, they should be 
as early in spring as the ground can be worked. 
Requisites to Success with Onions. 
Onions differ from most other crops in not 
requiring a rotation. In some places the 
land has been in onions annually for half a 
century. If the crop is to be grown for the 
first time, newly cleared land is best, and 
next to that, soil which has been in corn or 
potatoes. A good, deep, rich loam, is essen¬ 
tial, as is heavy manuring. Fifty loads of 
stable manure to the acre are an ordinary 
manuring, and may be supplemented by 
ashes, bone flour, or guano, as a top-dressing. 
The seeds should be sown very early ; should 
be of the previous year's growth, and from a 
reliable raiser. The rows are a foot apart, 
leaving every seventh for a path, and from 
three to six pounds of seed are sown to the 
acre. On land not before in onions, thin 
sowing is better than thick. After sowing, 
roll the surface. Some sow an ounce or two of 
radish seed with every pound of onion seed. 
The radishes come up in a few days and 
mark the rows so that a hand-cultivator or 
push-hoe can be run close to the rows even 
before the onions are up. 
One Essential Point 
is weeding. Unless one is prepared to give 
thorough weeding, and at the right time, he 
should not attempt to raise onions. It is no 
fancy work, and there is no machine that will 
do it. Unless one can go down on his hands 
and knees astride of the row, and remove all 
the weeds that are in the rows with his fin¬ 
gers, - at least twice, and sometimes three 
times, he will not be much troubled at the 
harvesting. Excellent hand-weeders are 
made to run close to the row, but until a 
machine can think, the rows themselves 
must be weeded by hand. Clean culture, 
which means the use of weeding appliances 
as often as needed, must be secured. 
In some localities the young onions will be 
seen to die without apparent cause. A fly 
has laid her egg and the grub is eating the 
interior of the young bulb. All such onions 
must be taken up, using a knife to make sure 
of removing the bulb with the worm, and 
placed in a bucket or other vessel, and burned. 
Near cities and large towns onions are 
most profitable when sold green, beginning 
to put them up in bunches when they are 
only half grown. Three to twelve onions 
with the tops left on make a bunch, according 
to their size and the custom of the market. 
W.ater Spout and Stock Trough. 
The water trough for the stock should not 
be immediately under the pump spout, but 
some ten or twelve feet distant, a spout be¬ 
ing employed to convey the water. This 
spout (see engraving) is made of two good 
pieces of clean white pine, inch stuff. One 
piece is four inches and the other is three 
inches wide, nicely planed and jointed. If 
securely nailed, it will not leak for a long 
time, but when it does, let it dry, and then 
run hot pitch down the joint. The trough 
should be made of two-inch oak, or pine of 
the same thickness may do if kept well 
painted, inside and out. Instead of nailing 
on the sides to the ends, have the ends fitted 
into grooves, and use rods, with burrs on 
them to bring the sides up tightly to their 
places. When the trough leaks, tighten up 
the burrs a little with a wrench, and the 
trouble generally ceases for the time. Even 
the best trough is by no means very lasting, 
and its longevity is increased by keeping it 
thoroughly painted, inside and out, with 
good paint. Where there are horses that 
destroy the edges of the trough with their 
teeth, it is a good plan to rim it all around 
with thin iron. The spout, where it goes 
under the pump, can have a strap slipped 
over the nozzle of the pump. D. Z. E. 
- 
Trade Mark Seeds. 
Mr. J. H. Alexander, of Georgia, asks us 
if there is any exclusive right given by the 
trade mark laws of the United States by 
which a party who first propagates a new 
seed or a new grain from a foreign country 
can acquire the sole right to sell it afterwards 
under its original name, tie says, B. claims 
to have brought the seed of a new crop called 
“millo maize” from South America; that in 
a newspaper B. described, the quality of 
“ millo maize,” stating that he had previously 
freely given the seed to his friends and 
neighbors ; that through one of the original 
recipients, some of the seed came into his (Mr. 
Alexander’s) possession ; that recognizing its 
merits he advertised it under the name of 
“ millo maize,” and referred to it as being the 
same as that distributed by B. To this B. 
objected, and doubted the genuiness of the 
seed. Thereupon Mr. Alexander purchased 
through a friend, some of the seed direct 
from B., and by planting it by the side of his 
own, fully established the identity of the 
two. He again advertised ‘ ‘ millo maize ” 
seed for sale, but was notified by B. that he 
(B.) had a “ trade mark” right to the words 
“millo maize,” and the use must at once be 
discontinued. Mr. Alexander wishes to know 
if such a right can be obtained. 
Answer: The proper name of anything can 
not be claimed as a trade mark. Under Mr. 
A.’s statement of facts, he has a perfect right 
to continue the sale of the seed. H. A. H. 
Mr. C. F. Burton, of Detroit, specialist 
in the law of trade marks, etc., furnishes the 
following in further answer to the above :— 
It is difficult to lay down any rule as to what 
may be adopted as a trade mark. Speaking 
generally, however, we may say, one can 
adopt any name or symbol for that purpose. 
The mark chosen must, however, be used in 
connection with a product thai is either man¬ 
ufactured by or selected by the person claim¬ 
ing the mark, and must in some way indi¬ 
cate the origin or ownership of the article. 
The meaning of the latter clause is somewhat 
technical, and may be best explained by say¬ 
ing that the mark must indicate to the ob¬ 
server, that the article covered by it has the 
same origin that previous articles sold under 
the same mark have had. A further limita¬ 
tion is, the mark adopted must not be the 
specific name of the article, nor must it de¬ 
scribe the character of the article ; if it does 
so it is appropriate to the article by whomso¬ 
ever used and the right to use it is common 
to all. I understand that the article referred 
to in your correspondent’s question has been 
lately introduced into this country and has 
no popular name specific to itself other than 
“ millo maize.” That being so, the name be¬ 
comes germane to the article and may be used 
by any person dealing in it, in fact, must be 
used if he would have customers understand 
what he is proposing to sell them. Any other 
course would be an act of bad faith. 
The Morning or Swarming of Bees. 
Bees seem to be governed by an instinct 
that sometimes appears to be closely allied to 
reason, and in various ways display an intel¬ 
ligence far beyond that of much larger crea¬ 
tures, hence, it is not strange that they are, 
in some countries, regarded with special con¬ 
sideration. Each country has its peculiar 
beliefs regarding bees, and some of these 
may be traced back to very early times. In 
several European countries, it is the custom, 
as soon as a person dies, to go to the hives 
and inform the bees of the death, as other¬ 
wise they would desert the place. As bees 
have teen more thoroughly studied, they are 
not found to be any less interesting, even 
while it is ascertained that many of the be¬ 
liefs concerning them had no real founda¬ 
tion. The care with which the cell is built, 
and its shape, being most economical of 
material and of room, has been much dis¬ 
cussed, and the insect accredited with a won¬ 
derful mathematical skill which enabled 
if; to build its cells with such precision. 
Later investigations have shown that tho 
shape of the cell is governed by the size of 
the bees, and the position in which they 
stand when at work upon the comb, and 
that they could not well build their cells 
in any other form. In the management of 
bees, no custom is more general than that of 
trying to induce a swarm to settle by mak¬ 
ing a noise. This practice dates back to very 
early times, and is alluded to by Virgil, who 
describes the use of odors as well as noises; 
in the making of these it was customary 
to “ mix with tinkling brass, the cymbal’s 
drowning sound. ” The manner of making the 
noise varies in different localities. In some 
parts of Germany the people run back and 
forth under the swarm and sing a monoto¬ 
nous hymn. In parts of England, the noise, to 
be effective, must be made by beating upon a 
frying-pan with the door-key. In this coun- 
