ONIONS 



309 



a good mulch as a winter protection. It forms the stock for the 

 main fall-planted crop grown for early bunchers at the North. 



3. A third class is also a set, or multiplier ; but, instead of pro- 

 ducing its increase by the breaking up of the mother bulb, a stalk 

 corresponding to the blossom stalk in the common onion is pro- 

 duced, on top of which is formed a cluster of bulblets instead of 

 the normal blossoms and seed. In some cases two or three clus- 

 ters are produced one above the other on the same stalk, as shown 

 in figure 1 16. In still other cases blossoms and bulblets will appear 

 in the same head, and viable seed has 

 been known to form. 



Variations occur in all cultivated 

 plants ; the multiplier and top-set 

 onions have both developed under 

 cultivation from the normal seeding 

 type. These forms are distinct and 

 breed sufficiently true to justify dis- 

 tinguishing horticultural names. At 

 present they are recognized in the 

 trade and have been mentioned in 

 horticultural literature, but have not 

 been given the botanical or horticul- 

 tural distinction they deserve. The 

 names accorded to these groups in 

 Bailey's classification are recognized 

 as appropriate ; they are as follows : 



1. All onions that are reproduced 



from ripened ovules (seed) may be classed as A Ilium cepa. 



2. All onions that are normally increased or reproduced by 

 segregation of the mother bulbs may be classed as Allium cepa 

 var. midtiplicans. 



3. All onions that normally produce clusters of bulblets at the 

 top of a seed stalk instead of blossoms and seed may be called 

 Allium cepa var. bulb ellif era. 



For convenience the discussion of onions will be treated under 

 the following heads : ( I ) Onions as a Field Crop at the North ; 

 (2) Onions as a Field Crop at the South ; and (3) Onions as a 

 Market-Garden Crop. 



FIG. 1 1 6. Bulblets produced one 

 above the other on the same stalk 



