404 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



keting is done by hand or power machine, which removes 

 chaff and dirt. The shrinkage in bulk from harvest until 

 the middle of February is from 25 to 30 per cent. For 

 this reason some growers prefer selling at harvest, when 

 prices are sometimes nearly as good as in the winter. 



One hundred barrels to the acre is a good crop. The 

 average is from 60 to 70. Harvesting and cleaning costs 

 50 to 75 cents a barrel. Prices are extremely variable, but 

 the industry is regarded as fairly profitable. White sets 

 are in greatest demand. 



546. Growing picklers.: — Pickling onions are grown by 

 the same method as sets, except that less seed is used. 

 Twenty-five to 30 pounds an acre is sufficient. The bulbs 

 range from ^ inch to ij^ inches in diameter. Uni- 

 formity in size is very important. 



547. Bunching onions. — Immense quantities of onions 

 are bunched when the tops are green and sold from early 

 spring until midsummer. In the South, white and yellow 

 multipliers are used ; in the North, sets grown from seed 

 and also those of the Egyptian tree onion. 



Multipliers are generally planted in the fall, about six 

 weeks before freezing weather. The trenches should be 

 4 or 5 inches deep and the bulbs set 3 to 6 inches apart. 

 Large bulbs of the potato class, planted in the spring, 

 will produce a great many small bulbs for planting in 

 the fall of the same season. They will make a good start 

 in the fall, grow to some extent during the winter in 

 mild localities and make rapid progress in the spring. 

 When multipliers are planted where the winters are 

 severe, a mulch of some kind, preferably strawy manure, 

 should be applied after the ground is frozen. 



In the North, enormous quantities of sets are planted 

 to produce bunching onions for local markets. It is cus- 

 tomary to plant the sets i to 2 inches apart with i foot 

 of space between rows, as soon as the ground can be 

 prepared in the spring. 



