The Danvers Onion, which is but a sub-variety of the common Yellow, may prove somewhat more profitable for extensive cultivation, on account of its globular form; but neither in its flavor nor in its keeping properties can it be said to possess any superiority over the last named.
The term "Silver-skin," by which this onion is very generally though erroneously known throughout New England, has created great confusion between seedsmen and dealers. Much perplexity might be avoided if its application to the Yellow Onion were entirely abandoned. The genuine Silver-skin, as its name implies, has a skin of pure, silvery whiteness; and is, in other respects, very dissimilar to the present variety.
When extensively cultivated for the market, it should be sown and subsequently treated as directed for the Danvers Onion. The yield per acre varies from four to six hundred bushels.
ROCAMBOLE.
Allium scorodoprasum.
This plant is a half-hardy perennial from Denmark, partaking of the character of both the leek and garlic. Bulbs or cloves similar to those of the common garlic, with much the same flavor, though somewhat milder; leaves large; flower-stalk about two feet high, contorted or coiled towards the top, and producing at its extremity a group of bulbs, or rocamboles, intermixed with flowers.
Propagation and Culture.—It is propagated by planting either the underground bulbs, or the small cloves, or bulbs, that are produced upon the stem of the plant. These should be set in April, in drills ten inches apart, and four or five inches asunder in the drills. In the following August they will have attained their full size, and may be used immediately; or they may be taken up, spread to dry, tied in bunches, and housed, for future consumption. All the culture required is the removal of weeds, and the occasional stirring of the soil.
Use.—"The cloves, or small bulbs, as well those from the stem as those beneath the surface of the ground, are used in the manner of shallots and garlics, and nearly for the same purposes."
There is but one variety.