. About 23,000 weigh an
ounce, and 10 ounces fill a pint. Their vitality lasts about eight
years.

Like most of the other culinary herbs, basil has varied little in
several centuries; there are no well-marked varieties of modern origin.
Only three varieties of common basil are listed in America; Vilmorin
lists only five French ones. Purple basil has lilac flowers, and when
grown in the sun also purple leaf stems and young branches.
Lettuce-leaved basil has large, pale-green blistered and wrinkled leaves
like those of lettuce. Its closely set clusters of flowers appear
somewhat late. The leaves are larger and fewer than in the common
variety.

The dwarf species is more compact, branching and dainty than the common
species. It has three varieties; one with deep violet foliage and stems
and lilac white flowers, and two with green leaves, one very dense and
compact.

East Indian, or Tree Basil (_O. gratissimum_, Linn.), a well-known
species in the Orient, seems to have a substitute in _O. suave_, also
known by the same popular name, and presumably the species cultivated in
Europe and to some extent in America. It is an upright, branching
annual, which forms a pyramidal bush about 20 inches tall and often 15
inches in diameter. It favors very warm situations and tropical
countries.

_Cultivation._--Basil is propagated by seeds. Because these are very
small, they are best sown in flats under glass, covered lightly with
finely sifted soil and moistened by standing in a shallow pan of water
until the surface shows a wet spot. When about an inch tall, the
seedlings must be pricked out 2 inches apart each way in larger-sized
flats. When 3 inches tall they will be large enough for the garden,
where they should be set 1 foot asunder in rows 15 to 18 inches apart.
Often the seed is sown in the mellow border as early in the spring as
the ground can be worked. This method demands perhaps more attention
than the former, because of weeds and because the rows cannot be easily
seen. When transplanting, preference should be given to a sunny
situation in a mellow, light, fertile, rather dry soil thoroughly well
prepared and as free from weeds as possible. From the start the ground
must be kept loose, open and clean. When the plants meet in the rows
cultivation may stop.

First gatherings of foliage should begin by midsummer when the plants
start to blossom. Then they may be cut to within a few inches of the
ground. The stumps should