The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-05-18
The Hardy White Winter onion.

There is no end to the new and the
good in the vegetable world it seems.
Notwithstanding the perfection" that
the various vegetables have appeared
already TO have attained every once in
a while, something new is brought out
and after trial proves a little better
than anything else we have had. For
ten years or more the up-to-date gar
dener or trucker in the South may have
had the conviction that so far as the
popular vegetable, the onion, was con
cerned perfection had been obtained,
and exhibited in such varieties in the
Bermuda" Creole" and one or two
others of Italian origin. such as New
Queen" "Nocera" and Rocco" In
one or the other of these there was no
question that he had IA variety that
could be grown as readily from the
seeds as carrots or turnips.
But with the dawn of the new CEN
fury another variety is introduced to
notice that promises to prove little
better than any that have appeared
before. The merit of this onion con-
sists in its being little harder than
any other good favored white onion
that we now have. 1t will stand a
greater degree of cold in winter and
early spring than either the New
Queen or the Bermuda. 1t is a great
gain to the Southern onion grower to
be able to start this crop by sowing
the seeds in the fall (Oct. 15- Dec. u.
Not being able to procure fresh SEEDS
of the Bermuda White" at reason
able price, the past fall and seeing
Beaulieu's Hardy White Onion" ad-
vertised as something new and pro-
curing the desirable quality of hardI-
ness, decided to give it a trial. The
seeds were sown Oct. 90 owing to dry
soil a good stand was not apparent
until December. While the winter was
comparatively a mild one, there were
several severe freezes-two OF them
heaving the soil considerably. On May
the onions are building down" fine
~. and clearly show that about every
seed produced a plant.
For home use, we have for many
years observed the plan of allowing
the plants thick enough so as to pro-
| duce large quantity of small onions
ranging from one to two inches In
diameter. These are always readily
"cooked-done," and present a more del
icate and attractive appearance when
served on the table.
We have grown the Rocco varieties
where a dozen of them would weigh
eighteen to twenty pounds, but such as
these are not near so desirable for Ia
BILE use as the small ones.
One years experience with the
Hardy White Onion is very satisfac-
tory. In the long run it may or may
not prove to be a little more desirable
than the other kinds enumerated The
one trial shows it to be a perfect on
ion in every respect-flavor. hardness.
rapid growth and the seeds cost less
than half what our importers charge
for the Bermuda.
As is usually the case that part of
our onion planting made with Sets
is half failure or half success. Fully
half of the plants threw up seed stalks
instead of maturing an edible onion.
Where onion sets are used they should
not average a size larger than chin
quapins. The larger they are the les
satisfactory will be the result.
The cheapest way to grow an onion
and one that will keep, is from the seed
sown in the fall and again in Febru-