GARDENING. 75 



OKRA- — Gomho, 

 Sown in the beginning of INIay — used as an ingre- 

 dient in soups, and is a beautiful ornamental plant. It 

 is cultivated extensively in the West Indies. Its ripe 

 seeds burned and used like coffee, can scarcely be dis- 

 tinguished therefrom. It should be planted an inch 

 deep, and hoed two or three times like pease. 



ONION — Allium cepa. 



For onions a rich mellow soil is best; and they may 

 be sown on the same ground, if well manured, many 

 times in succession. Rotten dung mixed with ashes, 

 soot, or pulverised charcoal makes the best manure for 

 this vegetable. After soAving, spread over ashes and 

 sand, and roll or flat down the beds with a spade, or 

 board as already directed. The beds should be raised 

 three or four inches above the alleys, and sown in drills, 

 twelve inches apart, as soon as the ground is dry enough 

 to work in the spring; — they should stand three or four 

 inches distant in the drills. For early onions sow the 

 last of August for next spring's crop. And in the 

 spring, as soon as they are large enough, draw them 

 out for use, till July; and let those that remain till that 

 time, run up to seed. 



The beds should be kept clean and loose. Keep the 

 manure near the surface, where the roots can reach it. 

 If the tops grow too fast they maj^ be broken down. — 

 When they are pulled they should be laid in the sun, 

 and often turned for five or six days to dry. Then if 

 they are roped up, and kept dry and cool, they will be 

 best preserved. 



A few leaves of parsley eaten with vinegar, will cor- 

 rect bad breath from onions. 



The Top or Tree Onion has the remarkable property 

 of producing the onions at the top of the stalk — and is 

 valuable for domestic use, particularly for pickling, in 

 which they are excellent, and superior in flavor to the 

 common kinds. It is also used for any other purpose 

 that onions usually are. It is perennial and propagated 

 by planting the bulbs in spring or autumn, either the 



