Onion. [1] While different sorts of onion may be found in the gardens of collectors, gardeners cultivate only two or three, notably the Spanish ( Cepa vulgaris floribus et tunicis candidis vel purpurascentibus ) and the Strasbourg onion. Spanish onions have large, sweet bulbs, while Strasbourg onions have a bitterer flavour and keep longer. They are both cultivated in the same way, but it is worth pointing out that they do not come true: if you sow sweet onion seeds, they will produce some red onions. The Strasbourg onion conserves its nature no better and become gradually flatter, as do Portuguese onions, which, after one or two years, degenerate to such an extent that they can no longer be identified. [2]

Onions are raised from seed and require fresh soil. The seed is scattered quite thinly in the open field and covered over with topsoil using a rake. Weeds are removed carefully and the onions are thinned in order to improve the quality of those which remain. When they have grown to a good size, their standing parts are trampled. When the leaves have withered, the onions are uprooted and the tips of the leaves are cut. They are dried out in dry soil and turned every day, otherwise they would grow new roots, especially in damp weather. Finally, the surrounding soil is removed and the healthy onions are stored in a loft in the house, without being packed too tightly. The more they are protected from the air, the longer they will keep.

It is futile to enter into further detail on such a common plant: however, it has merited the attention of Miller, and his instructions are far superior to those of our own authors who have offered advice on its cultivation. [3]

Notes

1. A cultigen, Allium cepa, Cepa Group.

2. Present-day Portuguese cultivars include ‘White Lisbon’ and ‘Winter Hardy White Lisbon’ (Huxley et al., 1992, iii.371).

3. See article ‘ Cepa ’, Miller, 1752.