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Show PRODUCTION OF 0NS0N SETi Industry Is Now Receiving More General Gen-eral Attention Than Formerly Market Is Wide. (By W. R. BEATTIE.) The term "set," as applied to the onion, indicates a small, undersized i bulb which, when replanted in the ground, will produce a large onion. This method of producing onions 1b perhaps the oldest and now the most universally employed for the growing of small areas of onions in the garden and where an early crop is desired. The common method of producing sets is to plant a large quantity of seed on a small area of rather rich land and Onion Sets Drying on Trays Piled In a Field. thus procure a great number ot bulbs that are undersized, owing to crowding crowd-ing and lack of plant food. The greater number of these bulbs do not attain sufficient size or maturity to produce seed the following season and are really plants in which the process of growth has been arrested. In the United States the onion set industry is largely confined to a few areas. The crop is extensively grown near Louisville, Ky., Chillicothe, O., and Chicago, III., In the Platte River valley of Nebraska, in southwestern New Jersey and in southern California. The entire area devoted to this enterprise enter-prise in these localities Is estimated at from 2,500 to 3,000 acres. The yield to the acre varies with the locality, but the average about 300 bushels. The market for onion sets Is found j throughout the entire country, the ' greater portion being disposed of in j small quantities. The climatic conditions governing the production of onion sets are practically prac-tically the same as those for standard onions, although it is not necessary to plant quite so early In the spring. Onion sets can undoubtedly be grown in any part of the northern states where suitable soil conditions can be obtained. The soil adapted to onion set culture is, as a rule, about the same as that required for the growing of large onions, except that the land should not be so rich. |