New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 173 
placed in a moist chamber and inoculated upon the cut surface 
with bits of rotten onion. At the end of a week there was only a 
trace of rot at the points of inoculation. Similar inoculations 
with pure cultures of the Pusarvwm likewise gave negative results. 
Sound onions, in moist chamber, were bored to the center with an 
awl and bits of rotten onion introduced into the wounds. At the 
end of a week there were no signs of rot. This experiment: was 
repeated several times and always with the same result — the onions 
refused to rot. During these experiments the temperature of the 
room varied from 21° to 26° C. (70° to 79° Fahr.). 
Finally, sound onions inoculated externally with bits of rotten 
tissue were immersed in sterilized water and placed in an incu- 
bator kept at a temperature of 36° C. (97° Fahr.). Other sound 
onions were treated in the same way, except that they were not 
inoculated. Still others were inoculated by boring to the center 
and introducing rotten tissue. ‘These latter were then put into 
the incubator with the others, but not immersed in water. At the 
end of six days all of the onions immersed in water were rotten,. 
including checks; while those which had been inoculated, but kept 
‘dry, were still perfectly sound. 
These experiments indicate that one important point in the pre- 
vention of this rot is to keep the onions dry. In practice this is 
to be accomplished by protecting stored onions from rain and by 
draining the fields so that water will not stand upon them for any 
length of time.* 
4 Since the above was written, some observations have been made upon the 
crop of 1899. The season of 1899 was unusually dry in Orange county, and 
yet there were a good many “slippery” onions in some fields. In looking 
over the onion fields, it was observed that some were almost entirely free from 
weeds, while others were thickly overgrown with them. It was in the latter 
kind of fields that the “slippery” onions occurred. The explanation of this 
appears to be that the weeds kept the onions wet by retaining the dew and 
some light showers which fell just before harvest time, thereby furnishing 
favorable conditions for the rot. Clean cultivation will have a tendency to 
reduce the amount of rot. 
