ECONOMIC PLANTS 241 



In recent years the culture of onions for the market 

 has often been through seeds sown in hot beds and 

 transplanted when the young plants are three or four 

 inches high, this method making it possible to grow 

 some of the more delicate imported varieties. 



If onion seed are planted so thickly in a poorly fer- 

 tilized bed that the plants fail to make more than a 

 start in growth, a small bulb is formed called an onion 

 set. Onion sets are planted for early young onions in 

 the spring. In some varieties sets are also formed at 

 the tops of onions instead of seeds. 



Seed Vegetables. The garden vegetables grown 

 especially for their seeds are the two legumes, the 

 pea and the bean. Good corn soil is good pea and 

 bean soil ; it does not need extensive manuring. Very 

 poor soil will often produce a fair crop, and such soils 

 are always improved by growing these legumes, but to 

 produce a good crop may require a fertilizer contain- 

 ing phosphorus, potash, and lime. The pea is a climb- 

 ing annual, and the garden variety usually requires 

 stakes or strings for support, but there are dwarf kinds 

 that succeed very well without stakes. They are sown 

 in rows from two to three feet apart. 



Peas and beans for canning are grown in areas ad- 

 jacent to factories, the whole plant being harvested and 

 then passed through a viner, either on the farm or at 

 the factory. 



Leaf Vegetables. - - The callage plant stores food 

 in its leaves, which becoming thickened, and arranged 

 in overlapping layers about a center form a head 

 which furnishes a food for table use or a valuable 

 forage crop. Cabbage seed for the garden or market 

 crop is usually planted in a hotbed, and the young 



M. & H. AG. l6 



