The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Onion
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A’llium cèpa.—Oignon, Fr.—Zwbiel, Ger.
The Onion was anciently called Cepe, on account of the form of its bulb. It was also termed Unio, because the bulb never divided: hence the English name Onion is derived. It is supposed to be a native of Spain, though its native country and date of introduction is not certainly known. No vegetable is more extensively known and cultivated than the Onion. It has been the common seasoning for meats and soups of all nations, from the earliest period to the present—gracing the table of all classes of society, in some form or other. For flavoring, it is indispensable in cookery. Besides imparting its flavor to other preparations, it affords considerable nutriment, and is considered to possess medicinal properties of considerable value. However, when improperly taken, and in too great quantities, it loses its virtues and becomes unwholesome and indigestible. Used in its crude state, it often remains in the stomach forty-eight hours before being dissolved by the gastric juice, and in this state has been known to produce spasms. They are most agreeable, when boiled and served up with sauce or drawn butter. When cooked in this way, they are greatly improved by the water being changed when they are about half-boiled. Pour on the second water from a boiling kettle, throwing in a little salt. When Onions are used as stuffing, in combination with other substances, they should first be chopped very small and thrown into boiling water, and boiled for about five minutes; they should then be put into a colander to drain, and pressed till not a drop of water remains. If they are then mixed with the other ingredients, they can be eaten without any inconvenience or injury to the stomach. Roasted and fried Onions should be avoided by persons of weak digestive powers. There are a multitude of varieties in cultivation but the most useful are the following Strasburg, or Yellow Onion. Large oval, inclining to flat; very hardy, keeps well and of strong flavor.
Silver Skinned.—White, flat, medium size. Very generally used for pickling.
Red Dutch.—Dark red, medium size, inclining to flat, keeps well, very hardy, extensively grown in the Eastern states for export, strong flavor.
Portugal, very large, globular, mild flavor; does not keep well.
Potato, or under-ground Onion; produces a quantity of young bulbs on the parent root, which should be planted in rows, in March, three inches deep (below the surface) and six inches from bulb to bulb, eighteen inches being left between the rows. Keep them clear of weeds, and earth them up like potatoes, as they continue to grow. They will be fully grown about the first of August, when they may be treated as other Onions.
Welsh or Tree Onion.—Much grown in cold countries, where the Onion does not seed freely. This variety shoots up a stem on which small bulbs grow in place of seeds. These pea-bulbs are kept till next year, when they are planted and produce very good roots of considerable size, while the stem gives a farther supply for next year’s planting. There are other varieties such as Globe, James’s Keeping, Tripoli, Reading, and Deptford; but none of them, for this climate, surpass or even equal those described.
Culture.—The soil in general cannot be too rich for this esteemed vegetable, and however good it may be, it requires more or less manure for every crop. It is a plant with a number of roots, that ramify to a great extent, absorbing nourishment from every particle of the soil. In regard to rotation of crops, the Onion is an anomalous case: for the same ground has been known to produce yearly, for nearly half a century, heavy crops. I have seen instances of twenty-two successive crops of Onions from the same ground, it having had every season a supply of cow, hog, or barn-fowl manure. There are hundreds of acres grown in this vicinity for shipping to the southern market. The system pursued is to manure the ground heavily, with the best of dung. Dig or plow the ground early in Spring; level it well with the rake or harrow; then with the Beet rake draw drills about one and a half inch deep and about nine inches apart, leaving a space of about fifteen inches between every three drills, called an alley. Plant these drills with young Onions, about the size of Beans, and do not cover them. They will be green in a few days. Hoe frequently and keep clear of weeds. In June, dig the alleys and plant them with late Drumhead Cabbage and Savoys for a Winter crop, or large York for a Fall crop. The Onions will be ripe in July, when they are pulled and cleared off. The soil must then be dug up and well broken, to allow the Cabbage crop to extend and grow freely. This is the system pursued by our market gardeners; but one error they all commit, and in consequence are not able to keep full-grown Onions over Winter, the bulbs rotting and decaying, from the drills having been drawn too deep, and pulling the crop two or three weeks too soon. My method is, after the ground has been well dug and raked even, to roll it before the drills are drawn, which must not exceed half an inch deep, being merely a mark whereon to lay the sets. Hoe to keep down the weeds; lift the crop after the tops are fully dried off; expose them in the sun a few days, to harden them; take them to a shed and spread them out thin, to dry; or tie them up in ropes and hang them up for use; by this treatment they will keep perfect throughout the whole Winter.
Sowing Seed.—The general method is to sow the seed very thickly, in shallow drills, early in April. The bulbs grow to the size of Peas or Beans by the middle of July, when they are lifted and put away in an airy loft, to keep till next Spring They are then planted out in drills for a full crop as above. Onions may be grown from the seed in one season, fully large enough for culinary purposes, and where the soil is of a deep mellow loam, on a dry bottom, which is most genial to the growth of this bulb, they will grow equally as fine as those that have taken two seasons to mature. Tor this purpose, sow the seed very thinly, (half an inch apart is thick enough, and an ounce of seed will he ample supply for a family)—in drills nine inches apart, and as shallow as they possibly can be drawn. read the seed in with the foot, to make it firm. Sprinkle a yery small portion of fine earth over the seed, and finish by raking it evenly. Within three weeks the Onions will make their appearance, when, if many weeds rise among them, they must be cleared with a small hoe, observing not to hoe deep, for the more the Onion rises out of the ground, it is the finer, and keeps better. As soon as the plants are three inches high, thin them out to two inches apart. If the weather is moist, the thinnings may be transplanted into ether ground. They too will attain a full size, but observe, in planting, to put the roots only under ground, ‘The plants being now two inches apart, as they grow, every alternate one should be pulled for immediate use, either for soups or salads, leaving the crop four inches apart in the row. Nothing further will be required until they are pulled up for drying, except the keeping down of weeds, which must be strictly attended to.
In moist seasons, Onions are apt to grow (what is termed} thick-necked; in such eases they should, about the end of July, be gently bent down with the handle of the hoe, or the head of a wooden rake, which will check their rapid growth, and cause them to bulb sooner. About the middle of September, sow a row or two of Onion-seed for early Spring use, before ~ any other green salading or seasoning can be obtained; the plants will be four inches high before Winter sets in severely, when they should have a little rough litter thrown over them, or a row of Spruce branches stuck among them for protection. They will come very acceptably into use in March and April; or a few of the large Onions can be planted in September; they will divide into several roots or scallions, and can be drawn for use as above, and a few more can be planted early in Spring, to draw for the same purpose.
Seed Saving.—It is very important to have good seed, therefore, select the most uniform roots in September, and plant them fully under ground, in rows one foot apart, and two feet from row to row. Let the ground be in excellent condition, for the stronger the plants, the finer the seed, which will be ripe in July or August, according to the weather. As soon as the heads begin to open and show the black seeds, they must be cut off and put into a sheet to dry. Clean it out well when perfectly dry—all seeds keep best in bags hanging in an airy room, and Onion seed will be perfectly good for three years. To grow Onions for pickling, sow the seed thinly in a bed in March or April, at the same time that the general crop is planted. No further culture is required, except hand-weeding, as their thickness in the bed will prevent their growing large,and will cause them to come to maturity sooner. They should be lifted in clear sunshine weather, as it improves their color. The White or Silver-skinned is the sort usually grown for this purpose.
The Onion crop is an interesting portion of gardening to every good housewife. She is ever solicitous that it should be full and certain. As it requires to be powerfully manured, we throw out the following hints for her special use. As we have intimated, Onions will grow on the same soil year after year, without any deterioration, provided it is liberally supplied with nutrition; for this purpose the following ingredients, always plentiful about every house, and generally thrown to waste, can be most beneficially applied. Soot spread over the ground, either before or after the crop, or thinly over the young plants—urine thrown over the ground during the Winter season—soap-suds, any time in the Fall or Winter, in like manner. These are not mere theoretic ideas; they are practical facts, which can be illustrated by any person who has the materials at command. I have seen Guano used to this crop, both with bad and beneficial results. At the rate of four hundred pounds to the acre, the Onions were greatly improved in size, though not in their keeping qualities. Applied at the rate of eight hundred pounds to the acre, the roots of the crop suffered, the plants got yellow, and did not fully recover their appearance. This manure should always be used in a liquid state, and about the strength of twenty-five pounds to a hogshead of water, to be applied after having stood twenty-four to forty-eight hours—urine can be used in the same manner, after being reduced with six parts of water. Every good householder who cultivates a garden, should have a large cask, in some retired corner, to form a deposit for the refuse of the wash-house, which can be reduced with a part of water, and applied to all vegetable crops in time of need; or where the soil is not rich enough, the plants can be fully watered with it, in the evening, once a week while they are in a growing state.