The soil best adapted to onions is a heavy, sandy loam, but a light clay loam will answer if it is well worked and does not pack or bake. Reclaimed swamp land is excellent if it is perfectly dry, thoroughly drained and free from stones and roots; with proper manuring it will improve. Ground can be planted to onions without detriment for any length of time, if kept well manured. The average yield is 500 bushels or more per acre.

The requirements for successful onion culture are good seed, liberal use of manure, and thorough cultivation. Hen manure, bone, ashes, fish and guano, are particularly good, but they should be composted with plenty of good fine muck or leaf mould. Swamp muck may be used to good advantage, especially on heavy loam.

The red onions, either the globe or flat, are the most in demand, the easiest to cure, and will keep the best. There is a demand for the yellow sorts, but it is somewhat local. The white onions will always sell higher than the others if first-class ; but they are uncertain. *

To secure good seed, select the best onions, those which are firm, round, of good size and bright color, and which have not been frosted. As soon as frost is out of the ground in the spring the bed should be deeply and thoroughly harrowed down smooth ; then lay out furrows three feet apart, and four inches deep. Set the onions in the furrows and cover by turning part of the dirt back on them. When the onions have started turn more soil over them until the furrows are filled up level. This method of planting gives the onion air, and allows it to secure firm hold in the ground. All weeds should be kept out to the end of the season, when the stalks begin to turn brown. When the seed pods begin to crack they should be cut off with five or six inches of stalk attached to them, and laid on the barn floor, leaving the doors open for a free circulation of air. The heads can be placed two or three inches deep. Turn them over daily until they are thoroughly dried, then thresh and clean them, put in coarse bags and hang up in a dry airy place.

The ground to be used must be as free as possible from foul seed, and weeds prevented from seeding.

For field onions, give the ground a good fall dressing of barn-yard manure that contains no foul seed. Plow it in deeply early in the spring, give a dressing of ashes or bone, and harrow the land both ways to pulverize the soil. Do not harrow over two inches deep, as the onion will bottom better than when deep cultivation is practiced. Then sow seed, making the rows twelve inches apart, and half an inch deep, and cover by drawing the back of a hand rake over the drills.

When up so that the rows can be seen, go through with a hoe, loosen the top soil and kill the weeds; continue this constantly. When the tops begin to wilt and fall down, the onions should be pulled, and the tops cut off, leaving about one inch of top on the onion. Allow them to lay on the ground until cured or dry. When perfectly dry, if to be kept through the winter, put in heaps where there is a free circulation of air, and turn them frequently. Store in a cool, dry, airy place; as the weather becomes colder, cover them with straw. In case the onions freeze, do not disturb or move them until the frost has passed out; if kept too warm or damp they will decay.

For very early onions sets are used. They are often planted out in the early fall. To grow the sets prepare the ground the same as for seed onions, and sow the seed thickly, about one-half inch each way in small beds. The seed being too close together, lack of room pre-ents the bulbs from growing large. Keep perfectly clean, and when the tops wilt they should be pulled and left several days to dry. Then put in a coarse sieve, shake the dirt from them, and spread out thinly in a cool place where the wind can blow over them. Turn them frequently. When dry, put in coarse bags, hang up in a dry place and keep as cool as possible without freezing. Leave the tops on till spring to prevent heating and sweating.

For planting out sets the ground is prepared the same as for seed onions, and is marked off in rows twelve inches apart. The sets are planted from two to four inches apart in the rows. Keep the ground loose.

Potato onions, or multipliers, are the earliest and hardiest of all onions, and they are the chief sort raised by truck growers in the south for early market. Prepare the ground as for seed onions, making the rows one foot apart and set the bulbs five or six inches apart in the row, setting so deep as to just cover them. Press the soil close to them. When they have started, loosen the soil by using a scuffle hoe. When the tops wilt or fall down, pull and top, leaving one inch of top on.

Top or tree onions are a sort which produces a large cluster of small onions on the top of the stalk. These small ones, when set, produce a large one so that it takes two seasons to grow a full-si zed bulb. They are not grown for market, but mostly in gardens for home use. When the tops are ripe, cut them off, leaving plenty of stalk to tie in bunches and hang up to dry.

Rareripes are sprouted or medium sized onions set in garden beds for early use. ' They simply grow larger, and are soon fit to use. When the seed stalk has fully started and has begun to harden, break it down just below the bilge.

New York. S. B. Conover.

Moving the desirability or laws to prevent or-chardists from spraying their trees with poisons while in bloom, inasmuch as such practice endangers the life of bees. The matter is urged with vehemence by the bee-keepers. It occurs to us that these persons are pursuing a course both impolitic and unnecessary. They should urge education rather than legislation. So far as we now know, there is no necessity for ' spraying trees when they are in bloom ; in fact, there is certainly one reason that might be urged against the practice, besides the waste of time and labor - there is a possibility of interfering with pollination. There are very few growers who spray their trees while in bloom, and those who do spray at that time will at once change their practice if told that no good is to come from it. Our bee friends, we fear, have verily made a mountain of a mole-hill!