Part 3 (1/2)

BUSH BEANS (green pod).--We recommend Improved Round Pod Extra Early Valentine; also, New Giant Stringless Valentine.

BUSH BEANS (yellow pod).--Wardwell's Kidney Wax and Davis' White Wax are largely grown in the South for s.h.i.+pment North. Valentine Wax is recommended for the North. For descriptions, see ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”

WHITE FIELD OR SOUP BEANS.--We recommend Day's Leafless Medium and New Snowflake Field. For descriptions of these and other varieties, see ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”

POLE LIMA BEANS.--We especially recommend Ford's Mammoth Podded Lima and Siebert's Early Lima.

POLE SNAP BEANS.--Golden Andalusia Wax is one of the best yellow-pod pole beans, and Lazy Wife's one of the best green-pod sorts.

DWARF LIMA.--Dreer's, Burpee's and Henderson's represent three distinct types.

For full descriptions of beans, see ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”

=Location.=--In choosing a spot for bean culture the farm gardener should select good mellow soil that has been manured the previous year. Fresh manure produces an excessive growth of vine at the expense of pods.

=Making Ready.=--Much stable manure, which is rich in nitrogen, should be avoided. In good ordinary soil, with some rotted manure from the previous crop, the bean plant will do well. It will obtain nitrogen, in great part, from the air, as already explained. Old manure is very favorable as a starter, as it contains the minute organisms mentioned in the preceding pages. Complete fertilizers or those containing phosphoric acid and potash must be supplied. Only nitrogen is derived from the air.

=Soil Inoculation.=--The soil of a new bean patch is sometimes inoculated with soil from an old patch, to get quick action of the bacteria (little organisms), which form the lumps or tubercles on the roots. The scattering of a little soil over the surface is all that is required.

Care should be taken to avoid the transfer of soil for this purpose from a patch affected with rust or blight, as diseases are carried from place to place with only too much ease.

=When to Plant.=--Beans may safely be planted when the apple is in bloom, in May; not so early as peas, as beans are less hardy. The ground should be dry and warm. Beans of all kinds demand shallow planting, as the seeds must be lifted from the ground in the earliest process of growth. The seed swells, bursts, sends a shoot (radicle) downward, and the two parts of the seed, called the seed-leaves, are pushed up into the daylight. Small round beans can take care of themselves, as they turn easily in the soil, but lima beans often perish in the effort to get above ground. This is why lima beans should always be planted eye down, and less than an inch deep. A half inch is deep enough for most beans. If lima beans are wanted extra early, they should be started on small squares of inverted sod, under gla.s.s.

The earliest bush beans yield marketable pods within forty to fifty days from planting; the pole beans in from seventy to ninety days from planting. There should be successional plantings made of the bush beans from the first date to within fifty days of frost. The different types of beans are fully and carefully described in the seed catalogues.

=Distances.=--Poles for beans should be set about 4 feet apart each way; or, in single rows, about 3 feet apart. Not more than three or four plants should be allowed to a hill. Wires stretched between posts, with strings down to the ground, are sometimes used. The bush beans are planted in rows 3 feet apart for horse culture, or half that distance where a hoe or hand cultivator is to be used. The plants in the rows should stand 3 or 4 inches apart for best yield.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plant of the New Valentine Wax Bean. The Earliest Wax or Yellow Podded Snap Short.]

=On a Large Scale.=--In large field operations, where the dried bean is the object in view, a clover sod is a favorite location. The ground is enriched by 400 or 500 pounds of complete fertilizer, and the beans are planted with a grain drill, using every fourth tube. The culture is by horse-power, and the vines are pulled by hand or by means of a bean-harvester, and threshed with a flail or grain thresher. These white grocery beans are sold everywhere in large quant.i.ties.

=Cultivation.=--All bean cultivation should be shallow. Nothing is gained by cutting the feeding roots. The climbing sorts twine ”against the sun;” that is, in a contrary direction to the apparent motion of the sun. The shoots must be tied up several times, to keep them on their own poles.

=Diseases.=--The worst bean enemies are rust and blight. In new soil, with good weather, these troubles seldom appear. During prolonged wet weather there seems to be no help for them. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture is a preventive. The spraying should be done in advance of blossoming. The seed is sometimes soaked in Bordeaux mixture for an hour where rust is antic.i.p.ated. Prevention is better than cure, and new soil and fresh seed are the best precautions. Diseased vines should be burned.

=Insects.=--The weevil which attacks the bean is closely allied to the pea weevil. Some practical people say there is no remedy known; others recommend heating the beans to 145 for an hour; others use bisulphide of carbon in a closed vessel, along with the beans.

=Profits.=--By far the largest cash receipts per acre are obtained by selling beans in their fresh state; preferably in the pods. The production of bush beans (pods) may run up to 75 or 80 bushels per acre, or even more. Lima beans are more profitably sold in the pods than sh.e.l.led, though some markets demand the sh.e.l.led article. The consumer gets a fresher and better article in the pods, and the producer is saved much trouble, and this method should be encouraged. Beans should be cooled, if possible, before s.h.i.+pment in bulk to distant markets, thus avoiding danger from heating, moulding and spotting.

BEETS.

Beets are produced in enormous quant.i.ties by market gardeners near all large cities, both under gla.s.s and in the open ground. They also have a place in the farm garden, as they are of easy culture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Crosby's Improved Egyptian, the Earliest Blood Turnip Beet.]

Excellence in the table beet depends partly on variety, but mainly on the quickness of growth. Sweetness and succulence result from high culture in rich, mellow soil.

Mangels and sugar beets, of course, have a place on every farm, for stock-feeding purposes, and table beets may also be grown, if good soil is available, for market purposes. The winter-keeping sorts are frequently in demand, and may be included among the farmer's cash crops.

No amount of stable manure is excessive in beet-growing. Partially rotted manure is best. For horse culture the rows should be 3 feet apart. Five to six pounds of seed will plant an acre.