318 The Prmciples of Vegetable- Gardening 



thickly on a rather light and dry piece of ground. The 

 plants soon crowd, and by midsummer the tops begin to 

 die for lack of food, moisture and room. The bulbs 

 should not be more than one -half or three-fourths inch 

 in diameter. They are cured and stored as ordinary 

 onions are. The following spring, w^hen planted, they 



Fig. 91. Commercial onion sets. 



resume growth, and in a very short time give edible 

 onions. Fig. 92 shows a multiplier onion. A cross-sec- 

 tion (Fig. 93) shows that it has three ^^hearts" or "cores." 

 As these cores grow, each gives rise to a separate bulb 

 (Fig. 94) . If allowed to remain in the ground, each part 

 develops two or more cores ; and so the multiplicatiouj 

 continues. The top onion also starts into growth quickly 

 in spring and soon makes an edible bulb. If the bulbl 



