250 



THE BEST PICKLING ONION. 



For. more than ten years, we have not 

 once met with a crop of the old tree- 

 onion in any garden we have visited ; 

 nor have we heard a word respecting 

 it which would lead to the belief that 



The Tree Onion- 

 it anywhere enjoys esteem as an escu- 

 lent. We have been familiar with it 

 for more than twenty years, but, like 

 the rest, let it pass out of our hands, 

 and thought no more about it till, five 

 years since, we received through the 



post from a correspondent three bulbs 

 of the size of marbles. We were so 

 delighted to reopen acquaintance with 

 an old friend, that we would not risk 

 planting them in the open ground; so 

 they were potted in rich com- 

 post, and watched with jealous 

 eyes, and in two years from 

 that time we had stock enough 

 to plant a large breadth in 

 the kitchen-garden. We 

 were not, however, aware of 

 its excellence as a pickling 

 onion, till we made the ex- 

 periment of pickling them 

 ourselves ; for the household 

 had a prejudice against them, 

 and the time-honoured silver 

 skins were cited in their de- 

 fiance. We had a quantity 

 of the smallest bulbs, not 

 larger than those shown at 

 the top of the cluster in the 

 subjoined cut, scalded and 

 cleansed of their skins. They 

 were tumbled into glass jars 

 with plenty of spices, and fill- 

 ed up with vinegar, and at 

 once committed to a cool oven, 

 where they remained for some 

 hours, till they were heated 

 through, but not to boiling- 

 heat. This plan was recom- 

 mended in the " Garden 

 Oracle" for 1859, p. 128, and 

 is the quickest and easiest of 

 methods for those who like 

 soft pickles. We then con- 

 vened a council of taste, con- 

 sisting of a few gardening 

 friends, who possess discrimi- 

 nating palates, and, with the 

 help of the butcher and the 

 cook, gave the onions a fair 

 trial. They were unanimously 

 pronounced to have an elegant 

 appearance, being small and 

 regular in shape, an exqui- 

 site flavour, not only surpass- 

 ing the best pickled onions of 

 other kinds, but any and every other 

 pickle— walnuts only excepted, which, 

 by the way, belong to another class of 

 flavours. 



The tree-onion ought to have a lead- 

 ing place in every kitchen-garden in 



