Onion seed is grown in several parts of the State, largely in the Santa Clara valley adjacent to the city of San Jose. Onion sets are largely produced in Orange county, near Los Angeles, for eastern shipment, for which purpose they are grown under contract. Ripening Onions. I am raising some onions from bottom sets and as they are growing nicely and are beginning to swell at the bulb some advise me to cut the tops off and some advise me to bend them over or tramp them down. Do not cut off the tops of the onions. If they seem to be overgrowing and not disposed to ripen the bulb, the top can be broken down, thus partly arresting the vegetative energy of the plant and causing maturity. Onions from Sets. Will onion sets planted in July grow and mature in the fall months? Good onion sets grown during the winter and spring should be mature by July and if planted after drying would proceed to make a full growth of large onions if growing conditions should be right for them; that is, the soil moist and the temperature not too high. How Many Crops of Onion Seed? Does the growing of onion seed exhaust adobe land, and if so, how many years' cropping before it requires rest or fertilizing? The growth of any seed crop, including cereal grains, of course, makes a supreme draft upon soil fertility. How long a certain soil can stand it, depends upon the amount of fertility it has when the draft begins. The best rough way to tell how it is going, is to watch the growth and crop, when moisture conditions are known to be favorable. If you get a good growth of the plant it is still good to make the seed. Onions from Seed. Will onions from seed mature the same season if they are irrigated? Some tell us they will not, so we would be very much pleased to hear from you. Onions grown from the seed do fully develop during the growing season following the planting of the seed. In fact, nearly all California onions are grown in that way. Our growing season is so long that we do not need to use onion sets to any extent, as they do in short-summer climates. Dry Farming with Chili Peppers. If I set chili pepper plants down six or eight inches lower than the surface of the ground and fill in as the plants grow larger, will this help in case I could not get water enough? My soil is a deep sandy loam. We have had between five and six inches of rain. Do you think water every fifteen days would be enough? On such light soil as you mention, the plants can be planted deeply and a certain amount of soil brought up to the plants by cultivation without injury. As this plant has a long growing season and matures its crop rather late, you will undoubtedly need irrigation. Probably irrigation twice a month will be sufficient in connection with good cultivation, but you will have to watch the plants and apply the water as it seems to be needed, rather than by a specific scheme of days. Harvesting Peanuts.