530 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Dec., 1899. 
infrequent does not relieve the grower from the necessity of providing for their 
occurrence. The most economic of the devices tested appears to be the 
“banking up” of trees with dirt or sand. In Florida as in Louisiana this has 
been found to be a very effective means of protection. The trunks of the 
older trees can be banked, and the younger trees can be almost entirely covered 
without necessarily causing any damage to the trees. 
The more expensive methods include warming the air by means of open 
wood fires and sheet iron stoves. These methods have been found to be fairly 
satisfactory on still nights. Coverings of cloth and other suitable materials 
are stretched on frames, and the confined air is warmed by means of stoves. 
One extensive orange-grower is building board sheds over his groves, the 
interiors of which will be heated by wood fires. When danger from frosts and 
freezes is past, the tops and sides of the sheds can be removed. On account of 
their great cost, covering of this character cannot, of course, be generally 
used.— Bulletin of the United States Agricultural Department, Florida. 
: CROSSING ONIONS. 
A sos interesting experiment is being made in England at Kinver Nursery in 
crossing onions. ‘The beautiful globular shape and delicate white quality of the 
New Masterpiece have for some time been well known, and it has won a great 
many prizes at shows. The experiment is that of crossing it with White 
Spanish. There is every prospect at present of the venture turning out highly 
successful, and of an entirely new onion being brought into existence which 
shall combine the good qualities of both parents. Kinver has, however, at least 
three other new onions, which are great favourites of gardeners, which haye won 
many prizes, these being Ringleader, Improved Banbury, and Imperial. 
Of course, by the continuous and persistent practice of cross-fertilisation, 
there must be a great many new creations of everything crossed. Hasy enough 
is it for the practised expert to get them, but it is just then that his hard work 
commences, for the offspring is sure to be very varied, and he finds the majority 
worthless, and only one here and there worth propagating. Often, too, after 
taking pains with a likely candidate for fame for two or three seasons, he finds 
it fail. Cross-fertilisation is a lottery, in which the prizes are few, the blanks 
many. 
UTILISING THE AMERICAN CORN CROP. 
THE corn carnival is the feature of the great valleys of the Central West 
“when the frost is on the pumpkin and the corn is in the shock,” but with a 
‘ crop of some 300,000,000 bushels to harvest there are tired souls and wearied 
bodies in the corn belt these fine autumn days. The promise of wealth and 
abundance of this world’s goods brings consolation and joy; it is the prolonged 
labour without the monetary compensation that disheartens and dispirits. Never 
was there a more propitious corn carnival season than the present, and Kansas 
and the corn belt are jubilant. Crops are good and prices are good. Corn is 
everywhere, and everything. One cannot walk the streets of a Kansas town 
to-day without encountering witnesses of the State’s wealth. There are corn 
neckties in the show-windows; corn-husk parasols and hats in the possession of 
fair women pedestrians ; cornstalk canes jauntily swung by prosperous swains ; 
and corn shoes and dolls for children everywhere. The manifold value of corn 
for household and personal adornment has been the feature of each succeeding 
carnival, and this year’s creations have totally eclipsed anything heretofore 
witnessed. ‘ : i 
But while the carnival emphasises the ornamental side, there is an under- 
current of seriousness about this adaptation of corn and its by-products that 
more deeply concerns the people than an. outsider might imagine. Corn was 
