Part 12

The plant known as New Zealand spinach is not a true spinach, but grows much larger and should be planted in rows 3 feet apart, with the plants 12 to 18 inches apart in the row. Some difficulty may be experienced in getting the seeds to germinate, and they should be soaked one or two hours in hot water before planting. New Zealand spinach is satisfactory for growing in warm climates, as it withstands heat better than the ordinary spinach. The fleshy leaves and tender stems are cooked the same as spinach.

OKRA (_Gumbo_).

This plant may be grown throughout the greater portion of the United States, but only one crop can be produced during a season in the northern part of the country. In the region around New Orleans successive plantings are made and a constant supply is maintained. The plant is of a tropical nature and will not endure frost, but the pods begin to be produced very soon after the plants start into rapid growth and continue to form for several weeks, especially if all pods are removed while young and no seeds allowed to ripen upon the plants.

_Soil and Its Preparation._--The soil upon which okra can be most successfully grown is a rich mellow loam, plowed rather deeply and well worked over with pulverizing tools. After the seedlings become established and the roots get a firm hold of the soil, the growth is very rapid and a large amount of available plant food, especially of a nitrogenous nature, is required. Quick-acting commercial fertilizers may be applied in moderate quantities, but these should be well mixed with the soil. The same conditions that will produce good cotton or corn will be found suitable for the production of okra.

_Planting the Seed._--Throughout the Northern States planting should be done as early as possible in spring, or as soon as the soil is warm enough for the planting of general garden seeds. In the Southern States, where a continuous supply is desired, successive seedings of four or five weeks apart should be made. Plant in rows 3-1/2 feet apart for the dwarf types, and 4-1/2 feet for the larger-growing varieties. Scatter the seeds in drills, or plant loosely in hills, as with corn, and cover to a depth of 1 or 2 inches, according to the compactness and moisture content of the soil. The seeds may be planted with any good seed drill, but when placed in hills they should be separated 3 or 4 inches to allow space for the development of the stems. If the soil is reasonably warm, germination will take place within a few days, but should there be a heavy rainfall in the mean time the soil should be lightly cultivated between the rows and the crust broken over the seed by means of an iron rake.

_Cultivation._--As soon as the plants are well established they may be thinned to three or four in a hill, or, if grown in drills, to 12 or 14 inches for the dwarf and 18 to 24 inches for the larger growing varieties. Where vacant places occur from failure in germination they may be filled in by transplanting. Cultivate as in the case of corn or cotton, keeping the ground well stirred and the surface soil loose, especially while the plants are small. After the leaves begin to shade the ground, very little cultivation is necessary except to keep the land free from weeds. A poor soil and insufficient moisture will yield pods of inferior size and quality, and irrigation may often be desirable in order to produce a marketable crop. Okra is sometimes grown as a mixed crop with cotton, the okra being removed before the cotton begins to mature; but this practice is not to be recommended, as both crops draw heavily upon the nitrogenous matter of the soil. The okra plants will usually continue to grow until late in the season, but after a time the pods are not so large or tender as those produced earlier in the season. As the pod is the only part of the plant ordinarily used for food, it is desirable to secure a rapid and continuous growth in order to produce the greatest quantity of marketable pods.

_Gathering and Marketing._--As soon as the plants begin to set fruit the pods should be gathered each day, preferably in the evening. The flower opens during the night or early morning and fades after a few hours. The pollen must be transferred during the early morning, and the pod thus formed will usually be ready for gathering during the latter part of the following day, although the time required to produce a marketable pod varies according to the age of the plant and the conditions under which it is grown. The pods should always be gathered, irrespective of size, while they are still soft and before the seeds are half grown.--(F. B. 232.)

_Cultivation for Seed._--If okra is to be grown for seed alone, only one variety should be planted, or if more than one variety is grown each should be separated from the other by at least one-fourth mile to prevent mixing. When several varieties of okra are grown near each other no seed should be saved except that produced by the method of bagging and hand pollination. To secure seed in this way is a rather simple matter when only a small quantity is required, as the pods formed on a single day when the plants are at their best will produce enough seed. The bags should be tied over the flower buds in the evening and the pollen transferred early the following day. Replace the bags immediately, as an insect or the wind may at any moment bring to the flower the pollen of another variety. After going over all the flowers of a variety it is well to return to the first three or four and repollinate them in order that they may receive pollen from different individual flowers of the same variety and to insure perfect fertilization. Before beginning upon another variety the brush used for transferring the pollen should be thoroughly cleaned. If a brush is not available, use a portion of a young leaf, folded together between the thumb and finger, to convey the pollen. This improvised brush should be discarded and a new one adopted for each variety. The bags need remain only during the day on which the pollen is transferred and may be replaced by a tag to mark the pod. The seed should remain on the plant until fully ripe.

The common bumblebee is a frequent visitor to the flowers of the okra, and a single bee was on one morning observed to pollinate over 500 flowers, comprising more than 50 separate samples. In this instance practically every flower in the field was visited and pollinated, although no pollen had previously been transferred. This observation demonstrated the necessity of great care to prevent cross-pollination. Our variety tests with okra have shown that seed growers have not always succeeded in keeping the varieties separate, and as a result there has been a gradual blending together of all the sorts. In many of the samples all the sorts usually grown are represented.

_Uses._--The principal use of okra is in soups and various culinary preparations in which meats form an important factor, as in the so-called gumbo soups, to which the young pods impart an excellent flavor, besides giving a pleasant mucilaginous consistency. The young seeds are occasionally cooked in the same way as green peas, and the very young and tender pods are boiled and served as a salad with French dressing. Both the stem and the mature pod contain a fibre which is employed in the manufacture of paper. No copper, brass, or iron cooking vessels should be employed in preparing okra, as the metal will be absorbed and the pods discolored or even rendered poisonous. The cooking should be done in agate, porcelain, or earthen ware.--(F. B. 232.)

_Varieties._--There are three general types of okra, viz., tall green, dwarf green, and lady finger. Each of these is again divided according to the length and color of the pods, making in all six classes or varieties, namely, tall green, long pod; tall green, short pod; dwarf green, long pod; dwarf green, short pod; lady finger, white pod; and lady finger, green pod. All variations from these are merely the results of mixtures, no true crosses or hybrids being formed. These mixtures are easily separated and referred to the parent type, and a little attention to roguing and selection is necessary in order to keep the varieties pure. It is essential that the parietal strain should be pure in order that a uniform and marketable lot of pods may be produced.--(F. B. 232, 255; U. Id. E. S. 10.)

ONIONS.

The onion is exceptional in that it will thrive under a very wide range of climatic and soil conditions. There is perhaps no extended area in the United States, except the mountainous regions, where the onion can not be successfully grown. For best results a temperate climate without great extremes of heat and cold should be selected. Onion culture is rarely profitable in regions where the climate does not change or has no definite seasons of heat and cold or wet and dry. Naturally the onion does best under rather cool conditions, with plenty of moisture during its early stages, but requires a reasonable degree of heat, together with dryness of both soil and atmosphere, for its proper ripening.

_Soils._--The essential requirements of a soil upon which to grow onions profitably are a high state of fertility, good mechanical condition in order that the crop may be easily worked, sufficient drainage, and freedom from weeds. If a soil has the proper mechanical properties--that is, if it contains sufficient sand and humus to be easily worked, is retentive of moisture and fertilizers, and is capable of drainage--all other requirements can be met. As a general rule new land is not adapted to onion growing until it has been worked one or two years with other crops. Onions should follow some crop that has been kept under the hoe and free from weeds the previous season. Corn, beans, and potatoes are suitable crops with which to precede onions. Muck and sandy soils may in some cases be brought to a suitable condition for onions the first season, but the fitting will have to be very thoroughly performed. The land should be plowed in the autumn, then replowed in the spring, after which numerous harrowings and doubtless some hand work will be required to get the soil in suitable shape. If necessary to manure the land heavily before planting to onions, it will be desirable to plant to some farm crop one season, then apply the manure during the autumn in order to give it time to become incorporated with the soil. Owing to the value of good onion land it would not be advisable to devote it to general farm crops for any extended period, although corn is frequently planted and oats or rye are sometimes used in the North. Cowpeas may be of great service in bringing new land into shape for planting to onions.

_Preparation of the Soil._--Assuming that the land intended for planting to onions is capable of being brought to a good mechanical condition, fertile, well drained, and reasonably free from weed seeds, the first step in the production of the crop will be to plow moderately deep, then harrow, disk, roll, and drag until the soil is smooth and mellow to a depth of 4 or 5 inches. On soils that are naturally well drained and where surface water can not accumulate, the plowing may be done in large blocks, but where the opposite conditions are found or irrigation is practiced it may be necessary to plow the land in narrow beds. In the case of insufficient drainage it will be desirable to throw the soil together into beds, leaving a double furrow between each bed to carry off surplus water. Where the flooding system of irrigation is practiced the beds must be leveled and a system of ditches and ridges provided for distributing and controlling the water.

_Crop Rotation._--Onions should not be planted on the same piece of land year after year, and some system of crop rotation should be maintained. Care should be taken, however, to use crops in the rotation that will not be exhaustive of the high fertility necessary in the onion land. During the years when the land is not devoted to onions it can be planted to some truck crop that will give a return that will justify the application of large quantities of fertilizers, or, better to a leguminous crop to be turned under as green manure. Continuous cropping with onions will cause the land to become infested with both disease and insect enemies that will sooner or later injure the crop to such an extent as to render it unprofitable.

_Fertilizers._--As the onion is an intensive crop and yields great quantities of marketable bulbs for the area planted, the grower is justified in manuring heavily. It would be difficult indeed to make the soil too rich for onions, provided the manures are thoroughly incorporated with the soil. A heavy application of fresh raw manure just before planting would have an injurious effect, but where the manure is well rotted and uniformly applied there is nothing to be feared.

_Animal Manures._--There is perhaps no fertilizer so well adapted to the production of onions as plenty of clean, well-composted stable manure, and the quantity and frequency of application will depend upon the nature of the land under cultivation. All stable manure used on onion land should be well composted before use and then spread upon the land several months before planting to onions. In the Northern States the manure may be applied during the autumn and well disked into the soil. The land can then be allowed to lie in the rough state and exposed to the action of frost during the winter, or it can be smoothed and seeded to rye, in which case it will be necessary to replow during the early springtime. Large quantities of fresh manure applied to onion land just before planting will have a tendency to produce an overgrowth of tops at the expense of the bulbs. This is especially true on irrigated lands and soils that are naturally moist.

_Commercial Fertilizers._--Where there is an abundance of humus matter in the soil the onion crop will be greatly benefited by moderate applications of high-grade commercial fertilizers. Many growers follow the practice of applying only a part of the fertilizer at planting time, reserving the balance to be put on as a top-dressing at some time during the period of cultivation. This plan is especially desirable where onions are grown during the winter, as the application of highly nitrogenous fertilizers in the autumn is liable to promote a soft growth that will be injured by cold. If the fertilizer is not put on until cold weather is over, the crop may be forced without danger of injury. For this purpose only those fertilizers of a very available form will answer.

_Planting and Thinning._--Experienced growers are frequently able by using extreme care in regulating the drills to distribute onion seed in rows where the crop is to mature so that little thinning will be necessary. Thinning is generally left until the time of the first hand weeding, when all thick bunches along the rows are thinned to a uniform stand of eight or ten plants to the foot. It is always well, however, to allow for considerable loss of plants, and unless the plants are so thick as to actually crowd, thinning will not be necessary.

_Transplanting._--The transplanting process, often spoken of as the "new onion culture," is merely a modification of the regular seeding method. The objects gained by transplanting are an earlier crop, a uniform stand, and bulbs of more regular size. Where a small area is to be grown, the transplanting process is the ideal method, but for large acreages and where labor is difficult to obtain, this would not be practical. After transplanting, the seedlings will require rain or watering in order that they may start, and for this reason the transplanting process is practically limited to areas where some form of irrigation is available. In growing onions by the transplanting method the seed is sown in greenhouses, hotbeds, cold frames, or specially prepared beds at the rate of 3-1/2 or 4 pounds for each acre to be planted. When the seedlings are grown under cover, they are given the necessary attention regarding watering and ventilation and kept growing quite rapidly until near the time for setting them in the open ground. As planting time approaches, the seedlings are "hardened" or prepared for transplanting by increased ventilation and exposure and by withholding water. When ready to transplant, the seedlings should be somewhat smaller than a lead pencil and rather stocky. The plants are lifted from the seed bed and the roots and tops both trimmed somewhat.

_Methods of Tillage._--The cultural requirements of the onion are frequent shallow stirring of the soil and freedom from weeds. The feeding roots of the onion run close to the surface of the soil and should not be disturbed by deep cultivation. Sometimes a heavy rain immediately after seeding will so pack the surface that the seedlings can not break through. Under such circumstances it will be necessary to slightly break the surface by means of a steel rake or a rake-like attachment on a cultivator. As soon as the plants are up and the rows can be followed the cultivator should be started to loosen the soil, which is always more or less compacted during seeding. It is well-nigh impossible to produce a crop of onions without some hand weeding. During favorable seasons the strictly hand work may be reduced to but one or two weedings, but a greater number will be necessary during rainy seasons. The work of hand weeding may be facilitated by the use of some of the small hand tools designed for the purpose. Among these tools might be mentioned the onion hoe, the hand weeder, and the thinning or weeding hook.

_Irrigation._--Outside of the areas where irrigation methods are depended upon for the production of general crops it is not customary to use artificial watering in the growing of onions.

_Harvesting._--In the North the bulbs are allowed to become as ripe as possible before removing them from the soil. Growers prefer that the tops ripen down and shrivel and that the outer skin of the bulbs be dry before they are pulled. To the southward, where the onions are not cured so thoroughly, they are often pulled about the time that the tops begin to break and fall. The ripening process may often be hastened by rolling a very light roller or a barrel over the tops to break them down. This process is frequently spoken of as "barreling." Where the bulbs are practically upon the surface they may be pulled by hand and thrown in windrows consisting of eight or ten onion rows. If the onion bulbs are considerably covered with soil it will be necessary to employ a one-horse plow or a cultivator with a sweep attached for lifting them. In any case it will be necessary to gather them from the soil by hand. After lying in the windrows for several days and being stirred occasionally with wooden rakes they are gone over and the tops removed either by twisting or cutting with ordinary sheep shears. In cases where very bright color is important as with fancy White Globe onions, and this would be injured by exposure to the sun and rain, the bulbs are cured in long, narrow, low ricks formed by two rows of onions laid with the bulbs regularly to the center, tops to the outside, the rows a few inches apart at the bottom of the rick but coming together at the top, and the top of the rick covered by straw or boards to shed the rain. As the tops are removed the bulbs are generally placed in crates for drying. In some sections onion-topping machines are employed, the bulbs being hauled from the field to a central location and run through the topper. These machines remove the tops, grade the bulbs, and deliver them into the crates or bags. If crates are not employed for curing, the bulbs are allowed to lie in the windrows for some time, and are then either put into sacks or hauled to slat cribs, where they complete the curing process. Too long exposure to hot sunshine will injure the bulbs. Where the bulbs are extremely dry at the time of their removal from the soil, they may be allowed to lie in the windrows for a few days only, and then sorted and cleaned in the field ready for packing and marketing.

_Storage._--In order that onions should keep well when stored they must be well ripened and thoroughly cured. Those that are immature, soft, or "thick necks" should never be placed in storage but sold as soon as gathered for whatever price they will bring. Good storage onions will rattle almost like blocks of wood when poured from one crate to another. In order that the bulbs may remain bright and of attractive appearance they should not be allowed to lie exposed to the weather, but should be hauled and stored in open sheds just as soon as they may safely be placed in one-bushel crates. After the bulbs have remained in drying sheds or cribs for several weeks they will be ready for screening and removal to the storehouse. In handling onions it is the rule to pass them over a screen each time they are moved, as in this way the loose skins are removed and any soft or decaying bulbs may be sorted out. The essentials for the successful storage of onions are plenty of ventilation, storing in small quantities, a comparatively low temperature, dryness, and safety from actual freezing. Any building wherein the above conditions may be secured will answer.

_Marketing._--Large quantities of onions are sold and shipped direct from the fields where they are grown. A part of the crop is held in temporary storage until late autumn or early winter. During recent years the winter storage of onions has become of great importance and the finest stock is held for late winter deliveries. The Bermuda crop from the southwestern part of the country comes upon the market during April and May, so that most of the storage onions are disposed of before that time. In marketing onions the first essential is to properly grade and clean the bulbs, in order that they may present an attractive appearance when offered for sale. Ordinarily the bulbs are separated into three grades--primes, seconds, and picklers. The primes include all those of 1-1/4 inches, in diameter and larger, and the seconds consist of those from 3/4 inch to 1-1/4 inches in diameter, while all those that will pass through a 3/4-inch screen are sold for pickling purposes. The grading is generally done in the field during the cleaning process, but as onions shrink considerably while in storage it is necessary to regrade before placing upon the market.

_Weight of Onions._--The legal weight of onions per bushel varies somewhat in different States, but 56 pounds of dry onions are generally considered a standard bushel.