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CHAPTER YI 

 BULB OR ONION CROPS 



Onion 



Leek 



Garlic 



Ciboule or Welsh onion 



Shallot 



Chive 



All the iulh crops are hardy, require a cool season and 

 moist rich soil with excellent surface tilth. Usually they 

 are not seed-bed crops. They require little room and may 

 he planted close. They are used doth as main-season and 

 secondary crops. They are propagated both by seeds and 

 bulbs. 



These crops are grown chiefly for the ■andergrouncl 

 bulbs; but the leaves are often used in stews and season- 

 ings. The onion is the only commercially important plant 

 in the above group in this country. Garlic, leek and the 

 others are known chiefly to citizens of foreign Inrth or to 

 those who grow products for the large cities. The onion, 

 however, is a major oleraceous crop, being grown under 

 large field conditions as well as habitually in the home 

 garden. These various vegetables are sometimes known 

 as alliaceous plants, from the Latin allium or alium, the 

 garlic ; all of them belong to the genus Allium. 



Seeds of these plants are grown by planting over-win- 

 tered bulbs in spring. The bulbs should be planted two 

 or three inches deep, a few inches apart in the row. Seed- 



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