
1890.] History of Garden Vegetables. 37 
the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus™ describes the onion, but 
does not include it in his list of garden plants where he speaks of 
the leek and garlic, by which we would infer, what indeed seems 
to have been the case with the ancients, that it was in less 
esteem than these now minor vegetables. In the sixteenth cen- 
tury Amatus Lusitanus” says the onion is one of the commonest 
of vegetables, and occurs in red and white varieties, and of vari- 
ous qualities, some sweet, others strong, and yet others interme- 
diate in savor. In 1570, Matthiolus” refers to varieties as large 
and small, long, round and flat, red, bluish, green and white. 
Laurembergius,” in 1632, says onions differ in form, some being 
round, others oblong; in color, some white, others dark red; in 
size, some being large, others small; from their origin, as Ger- 
man, Danish, Spanish, etc. He says the Roman colonies during 
the reign of Agrippa grew in the gardens of the monasteries a 
Russian sort, which attained sometimes the weight of eight 
pounds. He calls the Spanish onion oblong, white and large, 
excelling all other sorts in sweetness and size, and grown in large 
abundance in Holland. At Rome the sort which brings the 
highest price in the markets is the Cazefa ; at Amsterdam the Sz. 
- Omer. 
At the present time Vilmorin describes sixty varieties, and 
there are a number of varieties grown which are not noted by 
him in France. In form these may be described as flat, flattened, 
disc-form, spherical, spherical-flattened, pear-shaped, long. This 
last form seems to attain an exaggerated length in Japan, where 
I have been told that they often equal a foot in length. In 1886, 
Kizo Tamari,“ a Japanese commissioner to this country, says, 
“Our onions have not large globular bulbs. They are grown 
just like celery in this country, and have long, white, slender 
stalks.” In addition to the forms mentioned above we rank the 
top onion and the potato onion among our varieties. The onion 
is described in many colors, such as white, dull white, silvery 
white, pearly white, yellowish green, coppery yellow, salmon yel- 
69 Albertus Magnus. De Veg., Jessen ed., 7? Laurembergius. Apparat. Plant., 1632, 
1867, 487. 27. 
7 Amatus Lusitanus. In Diosc., 1554,273- 7 Vilmorin. Les PL. Pot., nage 
71 Matthiolus. Com., 1570, 389. 7™ Am. Hort., Sept., 1886. 
