262 



HORTICULTURE. 



may be added, that all the varieties of onion seem to 

 answer equally well for transplanting. 



Various means have been suggested of guarding 

 against the attack of the maggot alluded to. One of 

 the most simple and most important, consists in select- 

 ing a fresh soil and an airy situation, never sowing on 

 recently manured land. It is proper to avoid having 

 very tender plants at the season when the maggot is 

 known commonly to make its appearance : by sowing 

 a fortnight or three weeks later or earlier, crop? might 

 often be saved. It is frequently remarked, that while 

 spring sown onion; are cut o;F, the autum i sown crop 

 escapes. Mr M-ichray at Errol has suggested the pro- 

 priety of sjwing onions only after crops known not to 

 be subject to the attacks of the nuggot, such as straw- 

 berries and artichokes. This plan, he informs us, 

 (Scottish Hart. Mem. i. 274.) he has practised for a 

 number of years, and has found effectual in preser- 

 ving his onions ; while it is attended with no inconve- 

 niency, as nothing can be more easy than to keep up a 

 succession of strawberry and artichoke plants, 



3 i6'. The procuring of fresh seed is a matter of im- 

 portance ; for if it be kept over a year, a great part will 

 not germinate. Onion seed can be ripened in our cli- 

 mate; but some how or other it is very apt to degenerate. 

 A good deal, however, is yearly saved in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Deptford. Imported seed is always pro- 

 ved by attentive gardeners, and also by seedsmen : a 

 small sample being sown in a flower-pot, and placed in 

 a hot-house, the quality, as far as capability of germi- 

 nation is concerned, is soon determined. When it is 

 intended to collect home seed, some of the firmest, 

 largest, and best shaped bulbs are selected, and planted 

 out in February or March, in good ground, near a 

 south wall or hedge. When the heads are formed, 

 they are supported by lines of small cord passed be- 

 tween stakes. In September, if the season be favour- 

 able, the seed ripens, turning to a brown colour, and 

 beginning to burst the cells which contain it. The 

 heads are then gathered ; and when dried, the seeds 

 are beat out, and kept in paper bags. 



Tree onion. 337. A bulbiferous variety is cultivated in some 

 gardens, under the name of Tree onion. Its culture 

 has been recommended by Mr George Nicol of Edin- 

 burgh, in the Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural 

 Society, (vol. i. p. 350.) under the title of Allium Caitii- 

 dense, a species for which it has very generally been 

 mistaken. The stems from two-year old plants rise 

 more than two feet high. Several bulbs of different 

 sizes are produced at the top of the stem, and these, as 

 well as the root-bulbs, may be used for kitchen pur- 

 poses like common onions. They are of good flavour, 

 though rather stronger in taste than common onions. 

 They are well adapted for keeping, and especially for 

 pickling. Mr Nicol observes, that they are very seldom 

 infested by maggots; and he recommends, therefore, 

 that a few stock-bulbs should be preserved in gardens, 

 to provide against the contingency of the crop of com- 

 mon onions failing. 



This bulb-bearing or tree-onion is figured in the 

 " Botanical Magazine," plate 1469, and described by 

 Dr Sims as merely a variety of the Allium cepa. It is 

 certainly not the Allium Canadense of Willdenow or 

 Pursh, (for which, as already noticed, it has been ge- 

 nerally mistaken,) the Canadian plant having flat linear 

 leaves, and a slender uninflated stem, with top-bulbs 

 resembling those of garlic. But, on the other hand, it 

 differs from the common onion, not only in producing 

 bulbs at top, but in having a stronger alliaceous fla- 



K itch en 

 Garden. 



vour, and in being perennial. Possibly therefore it 

 might constitute a distinct species. 



338. The Egyptian onion, or Ground onion, has been *""" 

 considered as another variety of Allium cepa, but seems 

 to be more nearly allied to A. fisittlostnn. Instead of Egyptian 

 producing bulbs at the top of the stem like the form- onion. 

 er, this plant produces clusters at the surface of the 

 ground in the manner of potatoes. It was brought 

 from Egypt, it is believed, during the occupation of 

 that country by the British army, and was first culti- 

 vated in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh in 1811, by 

 Lieutenant Burn of the Royal Navy. The bulbs arc 

 planted in April, at a foot or sixteen inches asunder, 

 and covered with earth only about half an inch deep. 

 In the course of the season, a num'jer of bulbs form in 

 clusters around the parent bulb, ,ii already described ; 

 those nearest the surface grow largest ; thosa toward 

 the centre arc soonest ripe, and may be removed to 

 give room to the others. If intended for keeping, they 

 should be taken up before they attain maturity If al- 

 lowed to rem tin long in the ground, they sometimes 

 become of a very large size. The bulb seems quite 

 hardy, having been observed to brave the severity of 

 frosty weather, at least equally well as the common 

 onion. Flower steins rise sparingly, and only from 

 strong bulbs. In quality the ground onion seems not 

 inferior to the common onion. It more speedily reaches 

 maturity, being planted in April, and reaped in Au- 

 gust and September. Maggots have not been observed 

 to infest it ; but it has not been ascertained that they 

 will not attack it. From our own experience we 

 suspect, that it will speedily degenerate in this coun- 

 try. 



339 The scullion seems to be a third variety of the Scallion. 

 Allium Cepa, distinguished by the circumstance of its 

 never forming a bulb at the root. Miller states, that 

 the scallion is propagated by parting the roots in au- 

 tumn ; that it grows in almost any soil or situation, 

 and resists our severest winters. He adds, that being 

 green and fit for use very early in the spring, it is wor- 

 thy of a place in all good kitchen gardens. It was, in- 

 deed, formerly much in use ; but the true scallion is 

 now very little known, and is said to exist only in a 

 few gardens, where it is preserved by way of curiosity. 

 Some derive the name scallion or escallion from ascalo- 

 nic'/in, and without more ado identify it with the rocam- 

 bole, (A. ascalonicum) ; others consider it as synony- 

 mous with the Welch onion, (A.jistulosum); but both 

 these species were well known to Miller, and accurate- 

 ly distinguished by him, and yet he describes the scal- 

 lion as something different. In popular language, scal- 

 lion means sometimes a thick-necked seedling onion, 

 drawn for use in the green state ; and sometimes, as al- 

 ready mentioned, a winter kept onion which lias 

 sprouted., and is planted for some weeks in the spring 

 till it acquire green leaves. 



Leek. 



340. The Leek (Allium Porrum, L. ; Poireau of the Leek. 

 French) is a native of Switzerland, and a biennial 

 plant. The stem rises three feet, and is leafy at bot- 

 tom, the leaves an inch wide. The flowers appear in 

 May, in close very large balls, on purplish peduncles. 

 The whole plant is used for culinary purposes ; but the 

 blanched stem is most esteemed. It is in season in 

 winter and spring, and is chiefly used in soups, and for 

 stewing. It is mentioned by Tusser in 1562, but was 



