172 THE ONION GROUP 



TYPES OF ONIONS 



There are two general types of onions grown in America for 

 use in the ripe state. They are usually spoken of as the " Ameri- 

 can " and the " foreign " or " European " types. As a class the 

 American onions produce bulbs of smaller size, denser texture, 

 sharper flavor and better keeping quality. They also ripen earlier 

 and are much surer to mature properly in the North. Three 

 distinct colors of American onions are recognized in the markets: 

 Red, yellow and white. Each of the large markets has its prefer- 

 ences, but, in general, white onions are in greatest demand in the 

 East, yellow in the central West, and red in some parts of the 

 North. There are other intermediate colors, but these three are 

 the standards in the market. Onions vary in shape from flat to 

 globular. The globe-shaped sorts are usually preferred on the 

 market, and also are likely to produce greater yields, for their 

 greater depth enables them to attain larger size without crowding. 



There are several types of the foreign onions. The type most 

 likely to succeed in open ground culture in the North is best 

 represented by the Prizetaker variety. American grown seed of 

 this foreign sort produces bulbs that mature almost, if not quite, 

 as early as the leading American sorts. It is larger in size and 

 milder in flavor than most American onions, and keeps better 

 than most foreign sorts. The Gigantic Gibraltar is also a foreign 

 variety that promises to be of value in the North. Both these 

 varieties are grown to some extent as winter crops in the South, 

 by using the transplanting method. 



Bermuda onions constitute another foreign type. They are 

 the mildest flavored, most tender fleshed, and poorest keeping 

 onions in the entire list. In this country they are grown almost 

 exclusively in restricted areas in the South, principally in Texas, 

 where the soil and climate seem especially adapted to their culture. 

 They are grown under irrigation, as a winter crop to be harvested 

 early in spring, and are always transplanted. Seed is imported 

 directly from Teneriffe, the largest of the Canary Islands, located 

 in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa. 



THE TRANSPLANTING METHOD 



The transplanting method of growing onions, also called the 

 " new onion culture," involves sowing the seed in an especially 

 prepared seed-bed (which in the South may be in the open, but 



