ONIONS FROM SETS 247 



gather the sets when the seed-stalks are ripe or perfectly yellow. Let the 

 sets get well dried, then store in a cool, dry place six or eight inches deep 

 on a board floor and cover with clean, dry straw. Never put them in sacks, 

 boxes or barrels, as they will most surely mold. 



In growing onions from these top sets, I plant them as early in February 

 as the ground is suitable, on the richest of my land ; make the rows perfectly 

 straight by using a strong garden line; make rows one foot apart; press the 

 sets firmly into the mellow soil nearly or quite out of sight, placing them 

 an inch or so apart. When they are nicely up, a good top dressing of fine, 

 dry, decomposed hen manure sown broadcast and well hoed in, is most 

 excellent, especially just before a warm rain. A few weeks later a light 

 dressing of ground bone, or unleached ashes, will forward them wonder- 

 fully, and in a short time you will have onions fit for an epicure. Thin out 

 as wanted for use, leaving space enough for those that remain to mature for 

 winter use, or for the purpose of raising top sets for another year. 



The foregoing is obviously for garden, not for field practice. 

 In fact, for field work, sets of any kind are not used to any extent 

 in California. 



Bottom sets from seed are grown by sowing the seed thickly, 

 allowing the plants to grow without thinning, and to mature by 

 the drying on the ground, when about the size of marbles. These are 

 then pulled, dried thoroughly on the surface of the ground and are 

 then stored in a cool, dry place until planted. 



Growing sets in California for planters in distant states is 

 largely undertaken in Orange county, and one grower, G. A. Mur- 

 dock, shipped one hundred and forty tons from thirty-five acres in 

 1910. The sowing is timed to get a succession in the product. The 

 early varieties, in 1911, began to be sown February 9th. Sometimes 

 the crop goes in as early as December and January. Following these 

 comes the New Queen variety, which is followed by the Brown 

 Australian. The planting continues till June and the harvest of the 

 late sown comes in the fall. The early sets are ready for shipment 

 in June and July, and go mainly to Texas and Georgia. The 

 handling of this business is described in this way : 



In preparing' the sets for shipment the crop is first pulled and spread 

 on racks prepared for that purpose, to be dried in the sun for three to five 

 weeks. From the field the trays are hauled to the packing-house, where 

 they are dumped into the hopper of a large circular separator, run by 

 machinery, in which the tops are beaten off. In another machine, to which 

 the opions and chaff are conveyed by an endless belt, the chaff is blown 

 out. Thence the elevator takes the onions to the grading machine, which 

 separates them into four classes according to size, and from which another 



