ONION 



ONION 



1137 



Goff (6 Rep. N. Y. State Exp. Sta., tor the year 1887), 

 classifies first by shape of bulb and then by color. He 

 makes four primary groups: bulb oblate, spherical, top- 

 shape, oval or pear-shape. Each of these groups is 

 divided in three sections : color white, yellow or brown- 

 ish, red or reddish. Another classification (Bailey, 

 Bull. 31 Mich. Agric. College, 1887), makes three pri- 

 mary sections on methods of propagation: propagated 



1531. Tod Onions (X%) 



by division (multipliers),by bulbletsor "tops,"by seeds 

 (or sets). The last section (seed Onions) is divided 

 into oulbs silvery white and bulbs colored, and these 

 groups are again divided on shape of bulb. 



Aside from the chapters on Onions in the vegetable- 

 gardening manuals, there are special treatises, as Grei- 

 ner's "Onions for Profit," and "The New Onion Cul- 

 ture," tireiner and Arlie's "How to Grow Onions," and 

 the Orange Judd Company's "Onion Book." 



The cultivated onion-like plants may be named under 

 six species, as follows: 



A. Leaves terete and JwUow. 

 B. Plant annual or biennial, the bulbs evident. 



Allium C6pa, Linn. Common Onion. Bulbs various, 

 but distinctly rounded at top and bottom : scape tall and 

 stout (usually 2-3 ft.), enlarging in the middle, glau- 

 cous, much exceeding the large soft hollow leaves: fls. 

 in round umbels (Fig. 1534) white or blush. Persia and 

 adjacent regions. 



Var. bulbellifera, Bailey. Top or tree Onion. 



Var. miiltiplicans, Bailey. Multiplier or potato Onion. 



Allium fistuldsum, Linn. Welsh Onion. Ciboule. 

 Fig. 1535. No distinct bulb, but only an enlargement 

 at the base: Ivs., scape and fls. much as in the Common 

 Onion, except that the plant is usually lower when in 

 bloom and the leaves are more clustered. Siberia. B.M. 

 1230. — Grown for its leaves, which are used as season- 

 ing. It is as hardy as the Onion. It is grown prefer- 

 ably from seeds, but the roots may be divided. The 



seeds are usually sown in the fall, unless the climate is 

 severe, and the leaves are reaily for early spring use. 



Allium AscaI6nicum, Linn. Shallot (which see). A 

 small plant, with short awl-shaped leaves, anu an umbel 

 of lilac fls., but distinguished chiefly by the small ob- 

 long-pointed clustered bulbs. These bulbs are borne on 

 a common disk, forming a more or less compact com- 

 pound bulb that reminds one of a multiplier onion or 

 garlic. It is native to Syria. — The Shallot is rarely seen 

 in this country. It is grown for the little bulbs or "cloves" 

 which are used as Onions are. The young leaves are 

 sometimes used for flavoring. The bulbs or cloves may 

 be planted in early spring, the same as onion sets. The 

 true Shallot rarely blooms. A small strain of Onion is 

 often known as Shallot. 



BE. Plant truly perennial, producing a dense sod-like 

 clump. 

 Allium Sch<En6prasum, Linn. Cive (which see). Fig. 

 1536. One ft. or less high, in a tough clump, scarcely 

 bulbous, producing umbels of rose-purple fls. in spring. 

 N. Eu. and the northern part of N. Amer. Grown for 

 its leaves, which are used for seasoning. 



AA. Leaves ftattish, not hollow. 

 Allium sativum, Linn. Garlic (which see). Fig. 

 8n4, page 628. Bulbs small, breaking up into many snuill 

 bulbs or "cloves:" Ivs. very narrow, keeled: fls. pur- 

 plish, but usually not forming or replaced by bulb- 

 lets. Eu. — Grown for the bulbs, and cultivated like 

 Onions grown from seeds. 



Allium Pdrrum, Linn. Leek (which see). Fig. 

 l.")37. Strong, robust plant, with the simple bulb lit- 

 tle thicker than the stout neck : Ivs. very broad and 

 strongly conduplicate or keeled : scape produced the 

 second season, bearing a large umbel of white or blush 

 fls. Eu. Grown from seed, aifter the manner of Onions. 

 The leaves and bulb are eaten. l H. B. 



The New Onion Culture {Transplantinii Process).— 

 The idea of raising Onions by growing seedlings in beds 

 and transplanting to the open, which are the essential 

 features of what has been termed "the new Onion cul- 

 ture," is not new. It has long been put in practice in the 

 Bermudas, among the Portuguese growers in Califor- 

 nia, and in various places in Europe. This, however, 

 does not detract from the credit due to the writer, as well 

 as to Prof. W. J. Green, of Ohio, for the rediscovery 

 (about 1889) of this old, but in their localities and in 

 most portions of the United States before that wholly 

 unknown, plan of Onion-growing. There are only few, 

 if any, modern innovations which have left an equally 

 deep impression on our garden practices. The trans- 

 planting method is admirably adapted to the character 

 of the large foreign Onions, especially those of the 

 Spanish type, and by it the American grower is enabled 

 to produce bulbs in every way the equal of those large 

 sweet Onions which are imported from Spain and other 

 foreign countries, and sold in our groceries at 5 to 10 

 cents per pound. A portion of the Onions now palmed 

 off on the unsuspecting buyer in various places as "im- 



1532. A multipl 



ported Spanish" are really nothing more than these 

 home-grown bulbs of the Prizetaker variety, and the 

 buyer is not the loser by any means. This Prizetaker 

 is perhaps the best of this class of Onions to be grown 

 by the transplanting process at the present time — large, 

 of good shape, perhaps a little darker in color than the 

 imported Spanish, and its equal in mildness of flavor. 

 The newer Gibraltar is still larger, milder, a little later. 



