ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 



taken from the ground and preserved during the win- 

 ter ; in the ensuing spring they were again planted at 

 equal distances ; from this treatment the plants afforded 

 bulbs very superior to those raised immediately from 

 seed, some exceeding five inches in diameter ; and 

 being more matured, they may be preserved sound 

 throughout the winter with greater certainty than those 

 which are raised from seed in a single season.* Many 

 other cultivators pursue, with some slight alterations, 

 the same method, and find it perfectly successful. 



It is found that in those countries in which the onion 

 comes to the greatest perfection, the practice of trans- 

 planting it prevails. 



In Portugal it is sown in November and December 

 on a moderate hot-bed, and protected from the frost, 

 in which situation the plants remain till April or May, 

 when they are transplanted to a rich soil. '\ 



Onions are considered wholesome under any form ; 

 but they become more succulent and rnild after having 

 undergone culinary preparation. 



The WELSH ONION, or CIBOULE Jlllium Fislu- 

 losum is originally from Siberia. It is a hardy plant, 

 and strong in flavour, approaching more nearly to 

 garlic than onion. This species does not form a bulb. 

 The cultivation of the ciboule has been known in 

 England since the early part of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury ; how much earlier there are now no means of 

 knowing. It is much less cultivated in the present 

 day than it was in former times, when broths and pot- 

 tages, seasoned with the green tops of the onion tube, 

 were more in fashion. It is now only occasionally 

 raised for a spring crop. For this purpose the seed is 

 sown at the end of July or August ; in a fortnight the 

 plants usually appear above ground ; but in October 

 their leaves wither, and the ground appears quite 

 bare. In the beginning of the ensuing year, how- 



* Hort. Trans., vol. iv. t Ibid. vol. iii. 



VOL. xv. 25 



