ONION (Fr. oignon, ognin. from Lat. nnio, pearl. onion). Certain species of the genus Al lium (q.v.), particularly .11lieni cepa, a biennia] bulbous-rooted vegetable with a swelling stem, leafy at the base and with tapering fir:Whir leaves. The bulb is composed of thickened leaf elements in concentric layers. The native country of the onion is not certainly known, but is probably either India or Egypt. in both of which countries it has been cultivated from the most remote antiquity. The part chiefly used is the bulb, but the young leaves are also employed and young seedlings drawn from onion beds are a very common ingredient in soups and sauces in the beginning of summer.
The onion requires a light. friable, well-drained soil, well stocked with organic matter and liberal ly fertilized. Reclaimed marsh soils are success fully and extensively used for growing the crop. Onions are propagated from: (I) sets, i.e. little bulbs which form on the tops of the stems of some varieties in place of seed, or by division of the parent bulb as in the case of the potato onion, or from small onions obtained from thick ly sown seed; and (2) from seed. The first method is the one generally employed by farmer: and market gardeners in growing early bunching onions. The sets are planted either in the fall or spring in rows a foot apart and three inches dis tant in the row. The main crop of onions is usu ally grown from seed sown in the open field in rows 12 to 14 inches distant and thinned to 3 inches in the row. Sometimes the seed is sown in the fall and transplanted to the field in the epring; but the method coming into vogue now in the United States is to sow the seed under glass in the early spring and transfer to the field as soon as the weather will permit. Besides the
certainty of an even stand by this method. the yields are much higher, the bulbs grade more uniformly. and the extra cost of transplanting is not much more than the cost of thinning and weeding when the seed is sown in place. Thorough cultivation is essential by whatever method grown. The bulbs are harvested when the most Of the necks turn yellow, and are cured in rows if the weather is not too hot, or in open sheds or barns in rainy weather. They may be kept over winter by freezing and keeping in that state until spring or by storing in a dry apartment and keeping the temperature just above freezing. American varieties keep longer and are better adapted to most parts of the United States. but foreign varieties are better flavored and bring a higher price in the market. Bermuda onions, Spanish onions, and sonic other foreign varieties are quite extensively grown in California and the Southern States.
The potato onion, also' called the Egyptian or ground onion, is a perennial variety which pro duces offset bulbs resembling the shallot hut larger. They are milder than garlic, hut are stronger than the common onion. The tree onion Produce: bulbs at the top of the stem, the umbels becoming viviparous. The Welsh onion (Alliein fistelosein), also called cihol, is little cultivated in America. Its leaves are used like those of the shallot. by which name it is also known. Onions are similar to but milder than garlic (q.v.).