VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 381 



Top ok Tree Onion {Allium Cepa. car. viviparum).—Is 

 said to have originated in Canada. It produces little 

 bulbs (" buttons") at the top of the seed stems; hence its 

 name " Tree Onion." This is the easiest to manage of any 

 of the onions; is of good, mild flavor, early and productive 

 with little care, so that it is a favorite in climates too cold 

 and too warm for the other varieties. Plant the buttons 

 from October to March in drills one foot apart and six 

 inches in the drill. Plant the apex of the button just 

 beneath the surface of the soil. The small top bulbs are 

 fine, for pickling. 



Ciboule or Welsh Onion (Allium fistulosum). — Of two 

 kinds — white and red; is quite distinct from the common 

 onion, and does not bulb. It is sown in September for 

 drawing early in spring. Flavor strong, very hardy. 



Thompson describes twenty sorts of onion, of which the 

 foregoing are the best. Of these the first two and the top 

 onion are to be preferred for general use. 



Cult u it. — The method of cultivating the onion has 

 undergone quite a change since 1867, when this work was 

 passing through its second edition. Then it was the uni- 

 versal custom in the South to raise onions from seeds 

 planted immediately in the open garden, where the crop 

 was to be matured. The sowing was done in February in 

 beds richly manured, and the plants matured the onions 

 about May or June. This method is still in practice in 

 some localities, but generally it is now superseded by 

 what is known as the "New Onion Culture." This method 

 consists in sowing the seeds in cold frames in December 

 or in hot-beds in January, and as soon as the young- 

 plants produce bulbs one-quarter of an inch in diameter, 

 and when the season is far enough advanced, they are 

 transplanted in the field or garden in rows two feet apart 

 and three to four inches in the rows. This method of cul- 



