THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 307 



corn or cotton, keeping the ground well stirred and the surface soil 

 loose, especially while the plants are small. After the leaves begin to 

 shade the ground, very little cultivation is necessary except to keep 

 the land free from weeds. A poor soil and insufficient moisture 

 will yield pods of inferior size and quality, and irrigation may often 

 be desirable in order to produce a marketable crop. Okra is some- 

 times grown as a mixed crop with cotton, the okra being removed 

 before the cotton begins to mature; but this practice is not to be 

 recommended, as both crops draw heavily upon the nitrogenous mat- 

 ter of the soil. The okra plants will usually continue to grow until 

 late in the season, but after a time the pods are not so large or tender 

 as those produced earlier in the season. As the pod is the only part 

 of the plant ordinarily used for food, it is desirable to secure a rapid 

 and continuous growth in order to produce the greatest quantity of 

 marketable pods. 



Gathering and Marketing. As soon as the plants begin to set 

 fruit the pods should be gathered each day, preferably in the evening. 

 The flower opens during the night or early morning and fades after 

 a few hours. The pollen must be transferred during the early morn- 

 ing, and the pod thus formed will usually be ready for gathering 

 during the latter part of the following day, although the time 

 required to produce a marketable pod varies according to the age 

 of the plant and the conditions under which it is grown. The pods 

 should always be gathered, irrespective of size, while they are still 

 soft and before the seeds are half grown. (F. B. 232.) 



Cultivation for Seed. If okra is to be grown for seed alone, only 

 one variety should be planted, or if more than one variety is grown 

 each should be separated from the other by at least one-fourth mile 

 to prevent mixing. When several varieties of okra are grown near 

 each other no seed should be saved except that produced by the 

 method of bagging and hand pollination. To secure seed in this way 

 is a rather simple matter when only a small quantity is required, 

 as the pods formed on a single day when the plants are at their best 

 will produce enough seed. The bags should be tied over the flower 

 buds in the evening and the pollen transferred early the following 

 day. Replace the bags immediately, as an insect or the wind may 

 at any moment bring to the flower the pollen of another variety. 

 After going over* all the flowers of a variety it is well to return to the 

 first three or four and repollinate them in order that they may receive 

 pollen from different individual flowers of the same variety and to 

 insure perfect fertilization. Before beginning upon another variety 

 the brush used for transferring the pollen should be thoroughly 

 cleaned. If a brush is not available, use a portion of a young leaf, 

 folded together between the thumb and finger, to convey the pollen. 

 This improvised brush should be discarded and a new one adopted 

 for each variety. The bags need remain only during the day on 

 which the pollen is transferred and may be replaced by a tag to 

 mark the pod. The seed should remain on the plant until fully ripe. 



The common bumblebee is a frequent visitor to the flowers of the 

 okra, and a single bee was on one morning observed to pollinate over 



