A medium-sized, roundish, or flattened onion; neck small; skin yellowish-brown,—next interior layer not tinged with red. It is a popular variety in some parts of France; and is remarkable for its productiveness, excellent quality, and keeping properties.
Danvers.
Danvers Yellow.
Danvers Onion.
This comparatively recent variety was obtained by selection from the Common Yellow. It is somewhat above medium size, and inclined to globular in its form. Average bulbs measure three inches in diameter, and two inches and three-fourths in depth. The skin is yellowish-brown, but becomes darker by age, and greenish-brown if long exposed to the sun; the flesh is similar to that of the Yellow,—white, sugary, comparatively mild, and well flavored.
The superiority of the Danvers Onion over the last named consists principally, if not solely, in its greater productiveness. When grown under like conditions, it yields, on the average, nearly one-fourth more; and, on this account, the variety is generally employed for field culture. It is, however, not so good a keeper; and, for shipping purposes, is decidedly inferior to the Yellow,—its globular form rendering it more liable to decay, from the heat and dampness incident to sea voyages.
When cultivated for the market, the land is thoroughly ploughed, and well enriched with fine decomposed manure. The surface is then harrowed, and next raked free of stones, and lumps of earth. The seed is sown in April, usually by machines, in rows fourteen inches apart, and three-fourths of an inch in depth; three pounds of seed being allowed to an acre. The crop is treated in the usual form during the summer; and ripens the last of August, or early in September. When the tops have entirely withered, the bulbs are raked from the drills, and spread a few days in the sun for drying; after which they are sorted, and barrelled for storing or the market. The yield varies from five to eight hundred bushels per acre.
Deptford. Thomp.
Brown Deptford.