242 THE HOME ACRE. 



The pepper is another hot-blooded vegetable 

 that shivers at the suggestion of frost. It is fitting 

 that it should be a native of India. Its treatment 

 is usually the same as that of the egg-plant. It 

 matures more rapidly, however, and the seed can 

 be sown about the middle of May, half an inch 

 deep, in rows fifteen inches apart. The soil should 

 be rich and warm. When the plants are well up, 

 they should be thinned so that they will stand a 

 foot apart in the row. The usual course, how- 

 ever, is to set out plants which have been started 

 under glass, after all danger from frost is over. 

 Henderson recommends New Sweet Spanish and 

 Golden Dawn. The Large Bell is a popular sort, 

 and Cherry Red very ornamental. 



From the okra is made the famous gumbo soup, 

 which ever calls to vision a colored aunty presiding 

 over the mysteries of a Southern dinner. If Aunt 

 Dinah, so well known to us from the pages of 

 " Uncle Tom's Cabin," could have left her receipt 

 for this compound, her fame might have lasted as 

 long as that of Mrs. Stowe. The vegetable fur- 

 nishing this glutinous, nutritious, and wholesome 

 ingredient is as easily raised as any product of 

 the garden. We have only" to sow the seed, 

 from the first to the tenth of May, two inches 

 deep, and let the plants stand from two to three 

 feet apart each way, in order to have an abundant 



