* 

 130 ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 



"White Portugal," is unquestionably the true Silver-skin, 

 as described both by English and French authors. The 

 application of the term " Silver-skin " to the Common Yellow 

 Onion, as extensively practised by seedsmen and marketmen 

 in the Eastern States, is neither pertinent nor authorized. 



Strasburg. This is the variety most 

 YELLOW STRAS- generally cultivated in Great 



BURG. FLAN- 



Britain. Its form varies from 

 flat to globular, or oval ; bulb large, three 

 inches wide, and full two inches in depth ; 

 outside coating brown, of firm texture. 

 Divested of this, the color is reddish-brown, strasburg onion. 

 tinged with green. Flavor comparatively mild. It is a very 

 hardy sort, succeeds in cold localities, and keeps well. 



The Strasburg and Deptford Onions much resemble the 

 common Yellow Onion of New England ; and the difference 

 between the sorts is not great, when English-grown bulbs of 

 the first-named varieties are compared with the bulbs of the 

 Yellow Onion, American-grown ; but seeds of the Strasburg 

 or Deptford, raised in England and sown in this country, 

 almost invariably fail to produce plants that form bulbs so 

 generally or so perfectly as American-grown seeds of the 

 Yellow Onion. 



Top or Tree Bulb large, a little flattened ; producing, in 



stead of seeds, a number of small bulbs, or 

 onions, about the size of a filbert, which serve as a substitute 

 for seeds in propagation. The flesh is coarse ; and the bulbs 

 are liable to decay during winter, unless kept in a cool and 

 dry situation. The variety has been considered rather curi- 

 ous than useful. 



Propagation and Culture. It is propagated from the 

 bulbs, which are set in April or May, in rows fifteen inches 



