Abstract

Onions in this Presidency are extensively cultivated and exist in various kinds. Bulbs with shades of colour varying from pure silvery-white to deep crimson and of sizes ranging from the small Gollaprolu variety growing in cluster to the big single-bulb type of the Bellary District are all met with. The Ceded Districts abound in the single-bulb variety and the typical Bellary onion is red in colour with a mild agreeable flavour and a sweet taste and entirely devoid of the pungency of the small-bulb varieties. Even in the Bellary district, the crops in the western taluks are a mixture of the white and the red variety and as the Mysore frontier is reached, the white is found to replace the red completely. The white is locally supposed to have medicinal properties while the red is the best for the culin- ary and highly valued in the market.

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