The Shallot. 



235 



and six inches apart in the rows, covering to the ci-owns. They grow 

 rapidly and ripen early, generally yielding five or six fold. 



Besides being desirable for its late keeping property, the shallot has 

 long been esteemed for mildness and delicacy. In many parts of Eu- 

 rope it is more extensively grown and more highly prized than even the 

 onion. Few alliaceous plants are more healthful or possess a finer 

 flavor, and there are certainly few more productive. A space of ground 

 ten or twelve feet square would afibrd a family an abundant suppl}-. 



The crop has hitherto proved much more certain than that of the 

 common onion. It is true that it does not entirely escape the attacks 



The Shallot. 



of the maggot, yet it could probably be grown with a good measure of 

 success in localities where the onion would uniformly fail. 



But the shallot, even under the highest culture, rarely exceeds an 

 inch and a half or two inches in diameter, besides being quite irregular 

 in form ; and these objections j^robably prevent its more general use. 

 The kinds described ai'e few in number, the colors being red or brown- 

 ish yellow. Some of the roots are said to keep two years. 



Under the warm and dry seasons of the United States, the shallot 

 sometimes blossoms and perfects its seeds. These seeds, as has been 

 shown by cultivators, sport in a most remarkable manner, and exhibit 

 a degree of variation rarely seen in any other plant. 



