26 INTENSIVE FARMING 



is localized in three or four sections of the coun- 

 try, it differs markedly from other types of 

 onion growing and is at the same time highly 

 remunerative. 



This leads to a consideration of the green 

 bunch onion industry. Onion sets while used 

 to a limited extent for the purpose of producing 

 mature edible bulbs, are chiefly used for the 

 production of early green bunch onions. Market 

 gardeners in the vicinity of every large town 

 and city grow a quantity of early bunch onions, 

 either from sets grown from seed as above de- 

 scribed or from another class of onions known 

 as Potato Onions or " Multipliers." Potato 

 Onions are hardier than most varieties grown 

 as sets from seeds. The Potato Onion perpetu- 

 ates itself chiefly by subdivision of the large 

 bulbs, each large bulb splitting up into a num- 

 ber of smaller ones, each of which is planted 

 out to be harvested for green bunching or al- 

 lowed to grow to maturity to be used next 

 season to increase the planting stock by again 

 splitting up into several bulbs. 



There is yet another class of onions used for 

 this purpose, known by various names as " top 

 onions," "top sets," multipliers, etc., all of 

 which produce tiny bulblets at the top of a 

 seed stalk. Sometimes, seeds and bulblets are 



