106 



ONION 



a halh. If the onion is set in the soil again in the following 

 spring, the new top quickly lifts itself up from the bulb, before 

 other plants can get a start. Cut an onion in two crosswise. 

 The white layers are leaves stored full of food which the green 

 or yellow leaves use in their growth. Does each of the white 

 layers reach all the way around an onion ? If the onion 



were set out again, what 

 would the yellow cen- 

 ter become ? 



Let an onion bulb lie 

 on the window sill for a 

 few weeks and watch it 

 as the new leaves grow 

 out. Does the bulb 

 grow larger or smaller ? 

 After its leaves have 

 sprouted, is the onion 

 good for food ? When 

 the tops reach their full 

 size, how much of the 

 bulb is left ? 



Top Onions. — Some 



kinds of onions produce 



small bulbs on the tops 



of their seed stalks. If 



one of these bulbs is 



set in the soil, it grows 



and becomes a large 



onion, and then sends up a shoot which will bear small bulbs 



instead of seeds. Some of the small " seed " onions that are 



sold for growing an early crop are raised in this way, but 



most of them are small ones that were raised from seed late 



in the fall, and were pulled up while they were still small. 



Multiplier Onions. — One kind of onion, when it reaches its 



full size, breaks up into from two to five smaller bulbs. If 



Lily Bulb cut in Two Lengthwise 



