Very similar to, if not identical with, the English Strasburg. "It sometimes exactly agrees with the description of that variety: but it occasionally has a pale-brown skin, without any tinge of red; and, when this is the case, its flavor is milder than that of the last named."
With the exception of its more globular form, the bulb much resembles the Yellow Onion of this country.
Early Silver Nocera.
Early Small Silver Nocera. White Nocera. Thomp. Blanc Hatif de Nocera. Vil.
This is a very small variety of the Early Silver-skin, with a small, occasionally roundish, but generally oblate bulb. The skin is white; but the layers beneath are striped with bright-green lines. The leaves are very small. Sometimes the bulb has only a single leaf, frequently but two; and, if there are more than four, the plant has not its true character.
It is an excellent sort for pickling; and is the smallest and earliest variety known,—being fifteen or twenty days earlier than the Early Silver-skin: but it is very liable to increase in size, and to degenerate. Very little known or cultivated in this country.
Early Red Wethersfield.
A sub-variety of the Large Red Wethersfield, and the earliest of the red onions. Form and color nearly the same as the Large Red; bulb small, measuring about two inches and a half in diameter, and about an inch and a half in depth. It is close-grained; mild; a good keeper; forms its bulbs, with few exceptions, and ripens, the last of July; being three or four weeks earlier than the Large Red. Cultivated to a limited extent in various places on the coast of New England, for early consumption at home, and for shipment to the South and West.
This variety and the Intermediate are very liable to degenerate: they tend to grow larger and later, approaching the original variety; and can be preserved in a pure state only by a careful selection of the bulbs set for seed.
Early Silver-Skin.