92 ONIONS FOR PROFIT. 



Thorough work in the matter of curing pickling onions, 

 and onion sets as well, cannot be urged too strongly. If 

 the weather is not favorable for our purpose, a kiln or dry- 

 house, if available, may be utilized to best advantage. 

 High heat is not required, nor wanted. 



Growing Onion Sets. 



Onion sets are also a profitable crop, but their successful 

 management requires rather more skill and experience than 

 that of pickling onions. Perhaps it is not more difficult 

 to produce the one than the other ; but the pickling onions 

 are disposed of in the fall, while the sets have to be win- 

 tered over. The land should be of the same general char- 

 acter as needed for pickling onions, but not more than of 

 medium fertility. Yellow and White sets are in best 

 demand. Select Yellow Dutch and Silverskin or Pearl 

 (Extra Early Pearl, American Pearl), respectively, and, if 

 you want red sets, Early Red. Prepare the soil, and sow 

 seed as directed for pickling onions, using from 40 to 60 

 pounds of seed per acre. Use the wheel hoe promptly, 

 and keep the patch scrupulously clean of weeds. When the 

 tops are partially dry, shear them off, or cut them off with 

 a sickle ; then harvest them in the same manner as you 

 would pickling onions. All bulbs that will not readily pass 

 through a sieve with ^-inch meshes are too large for sets, 

 and should be used for pickling, or in other ways. 



Sets not perfectly capped over will not keep well. They 

 should be dead ripe in August or September. '• A good 

 set is a perfectly-formed onion in miniature, a round, plump, 

 little onion with the top all withered up to nothing." 

 Gather them on a hot day while perfectly dry, and at once 

 clean them by running through a fanning mill. Spread 

 them out thinly to dry, and keep them dry until winter 

 sets in. Then store them, in baskets, or on shelves, in a 



