THE SIZE OF SETS TO USE 



175 



to delay planting while waiting for the plants to attain the proper 

 size, that the planting can be done much more rapidly, that the 

 expense and trouble of growing the seedlings are obviated, and 

 that the bulbs are surer to attain large size. As compared with 

 growing onions from seed sown directly in the field, the set method 

 is more expensive on account of the high cost of sets and the 

 labor of planting, but is much surer to produce a profitable crop, 

 especially under unfavorable weather conditions. The sets may 

 sometimes be planted even earlier than it is safe to plant onion 

 seeds. The stored-up food material in the sets gives the plants a 

 strong start and they are able to make a much larger proportion 



> 



r-^«' 



Fig. 110. — Onion sets. 



of their growth than are plants started from seed, during the 

 period in which the weather is certain to be cool and the soil 

 moist. This makes the onions from sets a much surer crop than 

 onions from seed. The bulbs are usually larger and the crop 

 matures nearly a month earlier than when grown directly from 

 seed (Fig. 111). 



The Size of Sets to Use. — When large, ripe onions of the pre- 

 ceding year's growth are planted out in the spring they send up 

 seed stalks and the bulbs become inedible. If large, overgrown 

 sets are planted, many of them behave like large onions and 

 send up seed stalks. The bulbs produced by these sets that run 

 to seed are worthless as ripe onions. They are tough, exceedingly 

 strong, and will not keep. Small sets, on the other hand, do not 



