VEGETABLES BASIL BALM BEAKS. 131 



BASIL. (Ocimum Basilicum.) 



An herb of a highly aromatic odor, and a strong flavor 

 of cloves. It is used for flavoring soups, stews and 

 sauces, and is by some used in salads. Its culture is the 

 same as that of other sweet herbs. The seed should be 

 sown in the open (/round and not in frames, which is the 

 English practice, and necessary there from their colder 

 climate. Sow in rows one foot apart ; when three or 

 four inches high it may be transplanted in rows one foot 

 apart and six inches between plants. If a small quantity 

 only is required, it may be thinned out in the seed rows 

 and left to grow where sown. 



There are two species cultivated, namely, the Common 

 Sweet Basil (Ocimum Basilicum), and the Bush Basil 

 (0. minimum). 



BALM. (Melissa officinalis.) 



Another well-known aromatic herb which has a very 

 agreeable lemon-like odor. It is used as a tea for its 

 soothing effect in irritations of the throat and lungs, and 

 a century ago was used as a specific for coughs and colds. 

 Its young shoots are sometimes used as an ingredient in 

 salads. It is rapidly propagated by divisions of the root, 

 which, planted in Spring at one foot apart each way, 

 will form a solid mass by fall. 



Besides the common kind we have now in cultivation 

 a beautiful variegated variety, possessing all the prop- 

 erties of the other. 



BEANS. (Phaseolus vulgaris.)BusH, KIDNEY AND POLE. 



A leading vegetable of our market gardens, and ex- 

 tensively cultivated in every section of the country North 



