3. _The Silver-skin._--The handsomest variety, excellent for pickling,
brings the highest price of all, but is not quite so good a keeper as
the red or yellow, and does not yield as well.
4. _The White Portugal._--A larger white onion, often taken for the true
silver-skin. It is a good variety. The preceding are all raised from the
black seed, growing on the top.
5. _The Egg Onion._--So called from its size and shape. On good rich
soil, the average size may be that of a goose-egg, which it resembles in
form. It is of a pale-red color, and more mild in flavor than any other.
They are usually raised by sowing the black seed, very thick, to form
sets for next year. Those sets, put out early, will form large onions
for early market, that will sell more readily than any other offered.
6. _The Top Onion._--So called because the seed consists of small
onions, growing on the top of the stalks, in place of the black seed of
other onions. These are good for early use, grow large, but are poor
keepers.
7. _The Hill or Potato Onion_.--Of these there are several kinds, most
of which are unworthy of cultivation. The _Large English_ is the only
valuable variety. The small onions, for sets, grow in the ground from
the same roots, by the side of the main onion. Some of these grow large
enough for cooking. The main onion is the earliest known, grows large,
and has a mild, pleasant flavor;--they will mature at a certain season,
whatever time you plant them; hence, they must be planted very early to
produce a good crop. We have planted them on good ground so late as to
get little more than the seed. They are fine for summer and fall use,
but keep poorly. The foregoing are all that are necessary. They can all
be brought forward by early planting of sets raised the previous season,
by sowing the black seed so thick that they can not grow larger than
peas, or small cherries.
Good sandy loam and black muck are the best soils for onions. Any good
garden soil may be made to produce large crops; good, well rotted
stable-manure and leached ashes are the best. The theory of shallow
plowing, and treading down onion-beds is incorrect. The roots of onions
are numerous and long. The land should be well-manured, double-plowed,
and thoroughly pulverized. The only objection to a very mellow onion-bed
is the difficulty of getting the seed up: this is obviated by rolling
after sowing, which packs the mould around the seed, so as to retain
moisture and insure vegetation. Fine manure, mixed in the surface of the
soil for onions, is highly beneficial; on no other crop does manure on
the surface do so much good. Mulching the whole bed, as soon as the
plants are large enough, is in the highest degree beneficial, both in
promoting growth, and keeping down weeds. An onion-bed must be made very
smooth and level, to favor very early hoeing, without destroying the
small plants. All root-crops that come up small, are tended with less
than half the expense, if the surface be made very smooth and level.
Never divide your onion-ground into small beds, but sow the longest way,
in straight narrow rows, eighteen inches apart, for convenience of
weeding and hoeing. Cultivate while very young, and work the soil toward
the rows, so as to hill up the plants; this should be removed after they
begin to form large bulbs. Breaking down the tops to induce them to
bottom, is a fallacy: it will lessen the crop. Rich soil, deep plowing,
thorough pulverizing, early sowing, and frequent hoeings, will insure
success. Our system of double-plowing is the best for this crop. They
will do equally well, some say improve, for twenty years on the same
bed. Work the tops into the soil where the plants grow. Let the rows be
very narrow and very straight, and you will save half the ordinary
expense of cultivation.
_To gather and preserve well_, you should house them when very dry. A
day's exposure to a warm autumn sun is very beneficial. Keep them in an
open barn or shed until there is danger of frost. A warm, damp cellar
always ruins them; keep them through winter in the coolest dry place
possible, without severe freezing. Once freezing is not injurious, but
frequent freezing and thawing ruins them. They are very finely preserved
braided into strings and hung in a cool, dry room.