1136 



ONION 



ONION 



and third thinnings may be used on the table. Fig. 

 1530. It is very important that the best grade of seed 

 be used, for the Onion deteriorates rapidly from seed 

 which is not well grown nor carefully selected. There 

 are great numbers of varieties. The most popular 

 standard field kinds ai'e Southport Red and Yellow 



1528. The old-time Onion bed 



Globe, and these are also to be advised for the main 

 reliance in the home garden. For early use and for 

 variety, great numbers of kinds may be selected from 

 reliable seed catalogues. Some of the quick-growing 

 southern Onions are excellent for early use. 



There are two general methods of propagating the 

 Onion — by seeds and by bulbs. Onion seed is ordinarily 

 known as " black seed," although there is no Onion seed 

 which is not black. The main field crop is grown from 

 seeds, as explained in the articles which follow. The 

 Onion seed of the market is produced from full grown 

 and typical bulbs of the desired variety. These bulbs 

 are grown from seed and are kept over winter as other 

 Onions are. In the spring they are planted out in rows 

 two feet apart and as near together in the row as they 

 will stand. They send up a flower stalk which blooms 

 in early summer, and the seed is harvested. 



Propagation by bulbs is employed for the purpose of 

 securing early Onions for home use or for the special 

 early-season trade. Until within recent years, all the 

 very early or bunch Onions were raised from bulbs, but 

 recently a so-called "new Onion culture" has come into 

 vogue, which consists in sowing seeds in hotbeds or 

 coldframes and transplanting the young plants. Bulb- 

 propagation is of three general categories: (1) The use 

 of bulblets or "top Onions" which appear on the top of 

 the flower-stalk in the place of flowers; (2) the use 

 of bulbels or separable parts of an Onion bulb, known 

 as "multipliers," or "potato Onions"; (3) the use of 

 ordinary bulbs which are arrested in their growth, 

 known as "sets." 



Bulblets, or top Onions, are shown in Fig. 1531. If 

 one of these bulblets is planted in the spring, it 

 quickly produces a young bulb, and the growing bulb 

 maybe pulled at any 

 time and eaten. If 

 allowed to remain 

 in the ground, how- 

 ever, it sends up 

 ^\ a stalk (either the 

 ' '^ first or second year) 

 -'S which bears a clus- 

 ter of bulblets, 

 sometimes mixed 

 with flowers, on its 

 top. There are two 

 or three strains of top Onions on the market, although 

 the leading ones are the white and the red. these names 

 applying to the color of the bulblets. The so-called 

 "Egyptian Onion" is atopOnion; also the "tree Onion." 

 Multipliers are shown in Fig. 1532-3. Instead of con- 

 taining a single "heart" or core, as in most Onions, it 

 contains two or more. When the Onion is planted, each 

 of these cores or bulbels sends out leaves and grows 

 rapidly for a time; that is, the old or compound bulb 

 separates into its component parts. The growing 

 bulbels may be pulled and eaten at any time. If allowed 

 L in the ground, each of these bulbels will make 



MtiMTi-^'^*^ n-^ rifiHwi 



1529, The new-time Onion field. 



a compound bulb like that from which it came. Some- 

 times flower-stalks are produced from multiplier or 

 potato Onions. The best results with multipliers are 

 secured when the bulbels are separated on being 

 planted, for each one has room in which to grow. Two 

 or three kinds of multiplier Onions are known, the 

 variation being chiefly in the color of the bulb. 



Onion sets are merely ordinary Onions which are 

 arrested m their growth, and when planted will resume 

 growth. They are grown from seed. The seed is 

 sown verv thick on rather poor land, so that the young 

 bulbs soon reach the possibilities of their growtli: they 

 mature when still very small. These small 

 bulbs or sets are then harvested and kept 

 '•-'' over winter, and used for planting the follow- 



ing spring. When planted they grow rapidly 

 _ -^ and may be palled and used for the table. 



<i If allowed to remain in the ground, they 

 send up flower-stalks and produce seeds, 

 ' as common Onions do. Sets are not allowed 

 to seed, however, since the seeds from sets 

 ^^ would probably produce an inferior race of 

 Onions. Any variety of seed-bearing Onion 

 may be grown and propagated as sets, al- 

 though there are relatively few that give uni- 

 formly good results. In the trade, Onion sets are usu- 

 ally designated as yellow, red or white. In order to 

 secure gooa results from Onion sets, it is essential that 

 the sets be small and flrm. They should not be over 

 one-half inch in diameter, if they are of the best. If 

 they are much larger than this, they tend to run to seed 

 rather than to produce bulbs. Sometimes the very small 

 and inferior Onions are saved from the regular crop 

 and are used as sets the following spring. Such sets 

 are generally known as "rareripes." Usually they do 

 not give the best results. 



The varieties of Onions are numerous. In 1B89 

 (Annals Hort. } 78 varieties of "seed" Onions were 



1530. Bunch On 



offered by American dealers, and also about 20 kinds 

 of multipliers, potato Onions and sets. For purposes of 

 careful scientific study, the varieties may be classified 

 into geographical races, but for purposes of description 

 they may be assembled into groups characterized by 

 such arbitrary features as form and color of bulb. 



