This section is from the book "Cooking Vegetables. Practical American Cookery", by Jules Arthur Harder. Also available from Amazon: The Physiology Of Taste.
No. 981. - This variety attains a diameter of six inches, and weighs from three to four pounds. It is usually eaten raw, having white, coarsely-grained flesh of mild flavor. The skin is generally white, and sometimes of a light reddish color.
No. 982. - A beautiful white-skinned flat variety, and a good keeper. If it is sown in February or March, a crop will mature early in the season.
No. 983. - This variety is well adapted for culinary purposes, having a mild flavor, tender flesh and a light brown skin. It produces large globular Onions from seed the first season, but to attain its largest growth, the smallest bulbs should be set out the next spring, when they will continue increasing in size instead of producing seed.
No. 984. - This is a large, beautiful, pure white flat variety, that will produce large Onions from seed, but to attain their largest size the small bulbs should be set out the following spring. The flavor is mild and excellent.
No. 985. - This variety grows quickly and keeps well. If sown in February, it will produce Onions two inches in diameter early in summer. If sown in July, they will be ready to pull out in autumn, and will be sound and fit for use until the following autumn. If sown thickly, they will mature perfectly hard. They are particularly valuable for pickling.
No. 986. - The sets are produced by sowing the seed very thickly in the spring, without thinning them out; they mature when about one inch up. Their use is precisely the same as the Top Onions - to set them out in the spring instead of sowing seed. The seed of the White Silver Skin or the White Portugal varieties, is used for the White Set. They do not keep as well as the others, but produce small white Onions early in the season.
No. 987. - Esteemed by many as the best variety for early use. It is large in size, of a mild, sweet sugary flavor, very early and a large producer. The large Onions produce several small Onions in clusters around the bulb, growing mostly on the top of the ground.
No. 988. - This variety produces a quantity of young bulbs on the root, which should only be planted in spring, six inches apart, in rows that are eighteen inches wide, under one inch of soil. The English Multiplier should be planted in the same way. The large bulbs produce small Onions and the small bulbs large ones.
No. 989. - Peel two dozen medium-sized Onions, cut off the roots and stems and be careful not to injure the skin. Put them in a saucepan, cover them with water, add a little salt and a piece of butter, cover the saucepan, set it on a brisk fire and when they are tender strain off the water and serve them with melted butter.
No. 990. - Boil the Onions in the same manner as in No. 989, and when tender drain off the water and add three spoonfuls of Butter or Cream sauce. Let them simmer for five minutes and then serve.
 
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