ONION 



455 



flowers are succeeded by capsules of an almost triangular shape, 

 filled with black, angular, flattish seeds. The germinating power 

 of the latter lasts for two years. 



Usually, the plant, after seeding, dies and disappears entirely ; 

 but sometimes we find Onions which produce cloves as well as 

 seeds. Such plants may be considered perennial, as well as the 

 Potato Onion, which never seeds and is propagated by division of 

 its bulbs. 



The culture and use of the Onion date back to a very remote 

 period of antiquity. The strong odour and flavour of all parts of 

 the plant caused it to be valued in very early times as a seasoning, 

 and being easily grown, man has carried it with him into almost 

 every climate of the world. Hence a great number of varieties 

 have resulted, the best of which have become fixed, and form the 

 various kinds which are now in cultivation. 



Culture. — The Onion, considered only with a view to the 

 production of bulbs for household consumption, is generally grown 

 as an annual plant, whether sown for a summer crop or sown in 

 autumn. For a summer crop, the seed is sown in spring, and the 

 crop is gathered at the end of summer or in autumn. In this case, 

 the entire growth of the plant is completed in the course of the 

 same year. This mode of culture is the general one in the central 

 and northern districts of France, where Onions are grown very 

 extensively and as a field crop. The seed is sown in the latter part 

 of February, or in March, in good, moist, but well-drained soil, 

 which has been well manured and well pulverised at the surface, 

 and at the same time is somewhat firm and compact underneath. 

 The seed, being rather small, should be only slightly covered. In 

 gardens, Onion-beds, after being sown, are often simply strewn with 

 leaf-mould or with grape skins from the wine-presses. When the 

 seedlings have grown pretty strong, they are thinned out more or 

 less, according to the size of the variety, and after that require no 

 further attention until they are fully grown. Watering is not 

 necessary except in unusually dry weather. 



When the seed is sown in autumn, the growth of the plants is 

 continued from one year into the next. This mode of culture is 

 most common in districts where the winter is mild, as in the west 

 and all through the south of France. The seed is sown from 

 August to October, and the young plants are planted out either in 

 the course of the same autumn or as soon as the winter is over. 

 This way of growing Onions is not so simple as that first mentioned, 

 but the crop is finer and earlier. It is generally practised, as we 

 have just said, in southern districts, and it is in this way that the 

 enormous Onions which are sent during winter to our markets from 

 Spain, Italy, and Africa are raised. At Paris, too, it is almost the 

 only way in which the Early White Silver-skinned Onion is grown. 



