Okra takes about the same treatment as sweet corn, the seeds being sown where the plant is to grow, except in the Northern States. There the seeds are often planted in boxes, pots or sods turned over, simply because the season is not long enough to ripen the plants. The real okra is a large-growing plant that must be planted from one to three feet apart in rows that are three to five feet apart, but the dwarf and early-maturing varieties that are grown in the North, may stand as close as one foot apart in the row. There are no important insects or diseases. MARTYNIA. Martynia is grown solely for its half-matured pods which are used in pickles. The plant needs a warm soil, sunny exposure, and much room, as it spreads over three or four feet. It thrives under the same cultivation as is given corn and okra, and may be planted in frames or in the open as soon as the weather is warm enough. It is annual and native from southern Indiana to the Gulf. CHAPTER XXIII. HERBS, SWEET AND CONDIMENTAL. A great variety of plants, medicinal, flavoring and decorative, are herbs, but we will consider only those used for cookery and usually called “sweet herbs.” The very name brings memories of fragrant smells. If we cannot all say, “I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows,” yet few who have ever known a garden are unacquainted with the odorous bed of thyme, sage and mint. Although there is not such heavy demand for them in this country as in Europe, yet their use is growing, the favorite being sage. Sweet herbs may be divided, both as to culture and as to products, into two classes:—the annuals and the perennials: those grown for their foliage, and those for their fruits. All are easily grown and demand little attention, and though they may be bought at any drug store, yet they who have once raised their own herbs find a pleasure in them that they will not like to miss. Annuals and perennials may be grown together and a very little plot of ground is enough to grow them all. Choose a place where they will not interfere with plowing and cultivating and let them stay, planting the annuals in the same place each year, and renewing the perennials as soon as they begin to lose their aromatic qualities or otherwise to fail. The annuals should be sown every year, but perennials may be propagated by division of clumps. Discard all the older clumps and replant only the newer, younger portions.