Small Early Netherland. Thomp.
Small Summer Brabant.
Leaves long, narrow, dark-green; stem small. On this account, it is not so valuable as many others for a main crop: besides, if sown at the same time, it is liable to run to seed before winter. A small sowing, however, may be made with advantage for early use.
Yellow Poitou. Thomp.
Jaune du Poitou. Vil.
A remarkably large variety; the leaves having sometimes measured five feet in length, and six inches in breadth. They are of a yellowish-green color. The underground or blanched portion of the stem is yellowish-white, and is more tender than that of any other variety. On this account, and also for its large size, it deserves cultivation. The great length of the leaves makes it important that more space should be allowed between the plants than is usually allotted to other varieties.
THE ONION.
Allium cepa.
The Onion is a half-hardy biennial plant: the roots and leaves, however, are annual; as they usually perish during the first year. The bulbs, for which the plant is generally cultivated, are biennial, and differ to a considerable extent in their size, form, and color. The flower-stalk, which is developed the second year, is from three to four feet in height, leafless, hollow, swollen just below the middle, and tapers to the top. The flowers are either white or rose-colored, and are produced at the extremity of the stalk in a regular, globular group, or umbel. The seeds ripen in August. They are deep blue-black, somewhat triangular, and similar in size and form in all the varieties. An ounce contains about seventy-five hundred seeds, which retain their vitality two years.