VEGETABLES OKRA OXIOX. 241 



OKKA OE, GUMBO. (Abelmoachus esculentus.) 



This vegetable is extensively grown in the Southern 

 States. Its long pods, when young, are used in soups, 

 stews, etc., and are believed to be very nutritious. It is 

 of the easiest culture, and grows freely, bearing abun- 

 dantly on any ordinary garden soil. It is sown at the 

 usual time of all tender vegetables in this district in 

 May in drills two inches deep, and from eighteen to 

 twenty-four inches apart in the rows for the dwarf sorts ; 

 for the tall, nearly double that width. There are now 

 the following sorts : New Dwarf Prolific, Dwarf White, 

 Dwarf Green and Tall Green. 



Cepa.) 



Next to Cabbages, perhaps Onions are the most profit- 

 able crop of our market gardens, in which they are 

 grown from sets, and nearly all sold in bunches in the 

 green or unripened state. Grown from seed, they are cul- 

 tivated almost exclusively by farmers or men who devote 

 farm land to this purpose alone. Thus grown they are 

 sold m the dry state, and form an important article of 

 commerce. 



I will first describe the manner of cultivating in our 

 market gardens. To produce the " sets," or small bulbs, 

 that are planted to give early Onions to be sold green, a 

 poor piece of ground is chosen as early as it is fit to work 

 in spring. It is brought into a thorough state of pulver- 

 ization by plowing, harrowing and raking, so that the 

 surface is level and free of stones. A line is then stretched, 

 and lines are marked out by the nine-inch side of the 

 marker. In these the seed is sown in beds of six rows 

 wide, rubbing out every seventh row marked, so that it 

 forms an alley eighteen inches wide. For this purpose 



