422 • AGRICULTUBE. 



com; and tliose, perhaps, of tlie poorest and least improved va- 

 rieties. 



Ed. Still, yoii cannot say we stand still in these matters. Al- 

 most every year, on the contrary, some new jspecies or variety is 

 bf ought forward, and, if it prove good, is gi'adually introduced* into 

 general cultivation. Look at the tomato, for instance. Twenty 

 y6ars ago, ^ few curious amateurs cultivated a specimen or two of / 

 this plant in their gardens, as a vegetable curiosity ; and the visitor 

 was shown the " love appks " as an. extraordinary prooif of the odd ' 

 taste of " French people," who outraged all natural apjietites by 

 eating such odious and repulsive smelling berries. And yet, at the 

 present moment, the plant is grown in almost every garden from 

 Boston to New Orleans ; maybe found in constant use for three 

 months of the year in all parts of the country ; and is cultivate 

 by the acre by aU our market gardeners; In fact, it is so popular, 

 that it would be tnissed next to bread and potatoes.'; 



Suh. Quite light ; and a most excellent and wholesome v^eta- 

 ble it is. It is almost unknown in England, even now ; and, in- 

 deed, eo.uld only be raised by the aid' of glass in that country,— a 

 proof of how much better the sun shines for us than for the sub- 

 jects of her majesty, across the Channel. But there is another 

 vegetable which you see here, really quite as d-eserving as the to- 

 mato, and which is very little known yet to the cultivators in the 

 country generally. I mean the okra. 



Ed. Ycs. It is truly a delicious vegetable. Whoever has 

 once tasted the " gumbo soup'j" of the South, of which the okra is 

 the indispensable material, has a recollection of a good thing, whiA 

 will not easily slip from his memory. All over the southern States 

 okra is cultivated, a/nd held in the highest esteem; 



Sub. And there is no reason why it should not be equally so 

 here. Except to the north of Albany, it will thrive perfectly well, 

 and matyre an abundance of its pods, with no trouble but that of 

 planting it in a warm rich soil. See what a handsome sight is this 

 plat, filled with it, though only ten yards square, — ^rich, luxuriant 

 leaves, blossoms nearly as pretty as an African hibiscus, and pods 

 almost as delicate and delicious as an East India bird's nest. It has 

 kept my family in jnaterials for soups and Stews all the season, to 



