OLEANDER. 



OLIVE. 



buttered and spiced, they afford a rich dish, ' 

 and with vinegar, they make a good pickle. 

 The plant comes to maturity in the Middle 

 States, and the pods are abundant in the Phi- 

 ladelphia market. Those who become once 

 accustomed to this wholesome vegetable, con- 

 tract a great fondness for its peculiar flavour. 

 In Louisiana and other southern states, a 

 dinner is scarcely considered complete without 

 okra cooked in some way or other, and the 

 poor consider it one of their greatest blessing . 

 Mr. Legare, editor of the Southern Agriculturist, 

 has furnished the following recipe for making 

 okra soup, after the celebrated method pursued 

 in Charleston. The pods, he says, are of pro- 

 per size when 2 or 3 inches long, but may be 

 used as long as they remain tender. If fit for 

 use, they will snap asunder at the ends, but if 

 too old and woody, they must be rejected. One 

 peck of the tender pods are to be cut crosswise 

 into very thin slices, not exceeding one-eighth 

 of an inch in thickness. To this quantity add 

 about one-third of a peck of tomatoes, previ- 

 ously peeled and cut into pieces. The propor- 

 tion of tomatoes maybe varied to suit the taste. 

 A coarse piece of beef (a shin is generally 

 made use of) is placed in a pot or digester 

 with about 2 gallons of water, and a very 

 small quantity of salt. This is permitted to 

 boil a few moments, when the scum is taken 

 off and the okra and tomatoes thrown in. With 

 these ingredients in the proportions mentioned, 

 the soup made is remarkably fine. Still, some 

 think it improved by additions of green corn, 

 Lima beans, &c. The most essential thing to 

 be attended to is the boiling, and the excel- 

 lence of the soup depends almost entirely on 

 this being done faithfully. For if it be not boil- 

 ed enough, however well the ingredients may 

 have been selected and proportioned, the soup 

 will be very inferior, and give but little idea 

 of the delightful flavour it possesses when well 

 done. A properly constructed digester is de- 

 cidedly the best vessel for boiling this or any 

 other soup in; but where such a utensil is not 

 at hand, an earthenware pot should be pre- 

 ferred ; but on no account make use of an iron 

 one, as it would turn the whole soup perfectly 

 black, instead of the proper colour, namely, 

 green, coloured with the rich yellow of toma- 

 toes. The time usually required for boiling 

 okra soup is about 5 hours, during which it 

 should be occasionally stirred, and the ingre- 

 dients mashed. When taken off, the original 

 quantity will be reduced to about one-half, and 

 the meat "done to rags;" the whole forming a 

 homogeneous mass, of the consistence of thick 

 porridge. 



OLEANDER (Ncrium, from neros, humid; 

 alluding to the habitat of the plants). This is 

 a genus of noble evergreen shrubs, of easy 

 culture, and flowering freely the greater part 

 of the year. N. oleander and its varieties bear 

 forcing remarkably well ; and, although treat- 

 ed as green-house plants, yet they will not 

 flower well unless they are kept in the stove. 

 They grow well in any rich, light soils, and 

 young cuttings root in any soil, if kept moist. 

 The leaves of N. oleander contain tannic acid, 

 and the leaves and bark of the root of N. odo- 

 rum are applied externally as powerful repel- 

 85R 



lants by the Indian practitioners. N. tindorium 

 yields indigo. (Paxton's Bot. Diet.') 



OLIVE (Ofea). This is a very important 

 genus of plants, on account of the oil, &c., 

 which is obtained chiefly from the O. Europcea. 



It is an evergreen, small tree, with lanceo- 

 late leaves, of a deep-green on the upper, and 

 nearly white or hoary on the under surface. 

 The flowers are small and white. The fruit is 

 an elliptical drupe, of a bluish-purple colour 

 when ripe. The tree lives to an extreme old 

 age, and continues to bear good olives. It is 

 also much admired for the fragrance of its 

 flowers, which render it worthy a place in 

 every green-house collection. They grow well 

 in loam and peat; ripened cuttings root readily 

 in sand, under a glass. They may also be in- 

 creased by grafting on the common privet. 

 The unripe fruit of the olive, preserved in salt 

 and water, is a well-known article for the dessert. 



With regard to the capacity of a portion of 

 the Southern United States to produce the olive, 

 the following extract from a communication 

 of John Couper, Esq., will give interesting in- 

 formation : 



" I had a very pretty grove of 200 olives, im- 

 ported about 10 years since, their stems from 

 8 to 12 inches diameter, and perhaps averaging 

 20 to 25 feet high to the top ; they have borne 

 fruit for some years. 1 had also near 600 trees, 

 or plants, from 1 1 to 5 years old. From com- 

 parisons between the olive and orange, in pre- 

 vious severe frosts, where the orange was much 

 hurt, the olive was uninjured. I have, there- 

 fore, no hesitation in believing the olive is well 

 adapted to, and will succeed on our sea-coast, 

 of both Carolina and Georgia. 



"I have been personally acquainted with 

 sour-orange trees, both on St. Simon's and Je- 

 kyl, for 58 years, and believe they were plant- 

 ed near 100 years since ; and have never been 

 killed by frost until last February, when they 

 were all destroyed. I therefore conclude, that 

 since the first settlement of Georgia the olive 

 would have succeeded. It occurs to me that, 

 notwithstanding the immense value of the olive 

 in France, they have been cut down in some 

 severe frosts. 



"The olive and orange seemed so completely 

 destroyed, even to some depth under ground, 

 that I cut them down, and planted corn in their 

 place ; on examination about a month since, 

 the lower roots still appearing fresh, I conclud- 

 ed that opening the ground around them might 

 encourage vegetation ; and have now the satis-- 

 faction to see the olives pushing out abundance 

 of fine, strong shoots, not one failing. The 

 oranges are doing the same, though some ap- 

 pear dead, not yet decided; by returning the 

 earth to the olive shoots, they will throw out 

 roots, and furnish fine plants. In fact, I am 

 better satisfied respecting the success of the 

 olive than I was before the severe frost." (Far- 

 mer's Register, vol. iii. p. 246.) 



OLIVE, THE AMERICAN (Olea America- 

 na}. This American tree belongs exclusively to 

 the Southern States, the Floridas, and Louisiana. 

 Like the live-oak and cabbage-tree, it is con- 

 fined to the sea-shore. "It is so little multi- 

 plied," says Michaux, "that it has hitherto re- 

 ceived no name from the inhabitants of the. 



