THE ONION. 



659 



the centre, and ultimately die off. Wherever French cookery is in demand, 

 a considerable breadth of sorrel will be required, and to produce the leaves 

 in a succulent state the soil ought to be rich, loamy, and kept moist. 



1459. Substitutes for spinaceous esculents are to be found in chenopodia- 

 ceous plants generally : in ficoideae, portulacese, amarantacese, polygonaceas, 

 crassulacese, and oxalidacese ; to which we may add, Symphytum officinale 

 L., in Boraginaceae. See these orders in pp. Cl7, 018. 



Sect. V. — Alliaceous Esculents. 



1460. The alliaceous esculents in cultivation in British gardens are chiefly 

 the onion, leek, shallot, and garlic ; but there are also the chive and the 

 rocambole. They are all asphodelaceous perennials belonging to the genus 

 Allium L. They all require a rich, loamy soil and an open situation ; the 

 onion, shallot, and leek crops occupy a considerable proportion of every 

 garden, and they may follow either the cabbage tribe or some of the legu- 

 minosae ; they are all more or less subject to the onion-fly, which is described 

 under the subsection on the onion (1470). 



SuBSECT. I. — The Onion, 



1461. The common onion, Allium Cepa L. (Oignon, Fr.), is an asphode- 

 laceous bulbous perennial, the native country of which is unknown, but its 

 culture is as old as the history of the human race, and as extensive as 

 civilization. The common onion, though treated as an annual when gronni 

 for its bulb, and as a biennial when grown for seed, is yet as much a peren- 

 nial as the garlic, and, like it, produces offsets the second year, though not 

 in such abundance. The Welch onion, potato onion, and bulb-bearing 

 onion, are different species, or very distinct varieties, also cultivated in 

 British gardens, but not of such antiquity as the common onion. The onion 

 is in universal use, when young, in salads; and when more advanced, or when 

 mature, in soups, stews, or alone boiled or roasted. 



1462. Varieties a7id species. — The silver-skinned , middle-sized, or small, 

 chiefly used for pickling. Nocera ; very small, roundish or oblate, with 

 one or two small leaves, in colour resembling the silver-skinned; good 

 for pickling. Strashurg\ syn. globe, Dutch, Deptford, Essex, and 

 other names; large, oval, light-red tinged with green, strong flavour, 

 perhaps the most generally cultivated. James's Keeping ; large, pyramidal, 

 and in other respects like the preceding. Blood-red^ syn. Thomas's onion ; 

 middle-sized, flat, strong flavour, and very hardy ; esteemed in the London 

 market for its diuretic properties. White Spanish^ syn, Reading, White 

 Portugal ; large, mild, good for a general crop, but not a long keeper. 

 Brown Portugal ; resembles the preceding, excepting in colour. Tripoli ; 

 the largest onion grown ; oval, light-red, mild, but does not keep long after 

 it is taken up. The Welch onion, or ciboule, A. fistulosum i., a native of 

 Siberia, strongly flavoured, but does not bulb ; very hardy, sown in autumn 

 for drawing in spring. The underground, or potato onion^ A. Cepa, var. 

 aggregatum, G. Don, multiplies by young bulbs on the parent root, which 

 have all the properties of the common onion, and are equally productive, but 

 do not keep longer than February. The tree, or bulb-hearing onion, syn. 

 Egyptian onion, A. Cepa, var. viviparum ; the stem produces bulbs instead 

 of flowers, and when these bulbs are planted they produce underground 



