ONIONS 323 



which are packed with air spaces between, in an open shed where 

 they will dry as rapidly as possible. If the sets are dried with the 

 tops adhering, they are cleaned in the field by being rubbed over 

 a screen and then placed on trays or in shallow crates until re- 

 quired for market. Onion sets may be stored in any building where 

 they will be protected from extreme freezing, but they require an 

 abundant circulation of air. After they are thoroughly dried they 

 should be passed through a fanning mill to clean out the particles 

 of tops, shriveled bulbs, dirt, or other refuse. 



Marketing onion sets. In placing sets upon the market they are 

 packed either in ventilated barrels or in bushel crates. They are 

 sometimes handled in bags, but in these they become injured in 

 handling. In storage, the sets are kept as cool as possible to 

 prevent their sprouting before time for their sale in the spring. 



THE PRODUCTION OF GREEN BUNCH ONIONS 



Early bunchers from potato onions. Market gardeners in the 

 neighborhood of large towns and cities annually use large quan- 

 tities of onions known as potato onions and set onions in order to 

 produce the green bunch onions which are found in the markets 

 early in the season. The potato onion is one that propagates itself 

 by vegetative parts, by the division of the bulb. Large bulbs are 

 planted in the spring or in the autumn, and the product is a large 

 number of small bulblets. These are planted the succeeding au- 

 tumn to produce bunch onions for the next spring market. The 

 common practice is to select an area of well-enriched and well- 

 drained sandy loam and, about October 1 5 in the latitude of New 

 York but earlier farther north, to set the small potato onions in 

 rows 1 5 inches apart and 2 or 3 inches apart in the row. As soon 

 as the ground is frozen the planted area is mulched with strawy 

 manure, which is allowed to remain until the succeeding spring. 

 The onions will not be injured by remaining frozen during the 

 winter, but the mulch should be thick enough to prevent alternate 

 freezings and thawings. With the approach of spring, top growth 

 will begin and the mulch should be removed, after which the 

 onions will soon attain marketable size, for salable condition is de- 

 termined more by the size of the tops than by the size of the bulbs. 



