76 REPORT OF THE BOTANIST OF THE 
of poor seed and unequal distribution of the fungicide the results 
obtained were unreliable. 
Although the results of Dr. Thaxter’s experiments plainly indi- 
cate that onion smut can be controlled to a large extent by 
the sulphur-lime treatment, and notwithstanding the fact that 
accounts of his experiments have been widely published, it 
appears that onion growers have made very little use of the treat- 
ment; and, so far'as we can learn, no other experiments upon it 
have been reported. 
OUR OWN EXPERIMENTS. 
ORIGIN OF THE EXPERIMENTS, 
At a Farmers’ Institute held in Goshen, N.’Y., in March, 1896, 
there was a lengthy discussion of onion smut and its treatment. 
One of the writers of this bulletin who was present took part in 
the discussion and read the account of Dr. Sturgis’ experiments 
on transplanting onions to avoid smut. The onion growers pres. 
ent were unanimously agreed that, in that locality, it was wholly 
impracticable to transplant onions. They were confident that 
the process would prove too expensive. Moreover, the market to 
which they cater requires small to medium sized bulbs suitable 
for boiling whole. Hence, an increase in the size of the bulbs due 
to transplanting would tend to reduce their market value rather 
than increase it. 
Asa result of the discussion a resolution was passed requesting 
the New York Agricultural Experiment Station to undertake 
some experiments on the treatment of onion smut, 
We were then, and are still, of the opinion that transplanting 
as a method of circumventing onion smut is worthy of considera- 
tion by Orange County onion growers. However, as there was evi- 
dently a strong prejudice against transplanting and a desire for 
a less expensive treatment we decided to repeat Thaxter’s experi- 
*L. ec. Dr. Sturgis’ paper was not yet published at that a but he 
kindly loaned us the manuscript for use at the Institute. 
