The Pole Lima Beans. 367 



vines when tliey have reached a certain height. For myself, I 

 doubt the efficiency, or at least the necessity, for this practice. 

 It seems to me that it is better to prevent too rapid growth by 

 withholding the strong fertilizers and then by the "nse of compara- 

 tively short poles. Some persons prefer to grow the beans npon a 

 trellis, and this is the most economical of room. In this way the 

 beans can be planted more or less contirmonsly, so that the 

 vines will eventually stand about a foot apart. The trellis can be 

 made very cheaply by placing a very strong braced post at each end 

 of the row and then running a strand of fence wire from one post 

 to the other about eight or nine inches above the ground, and 

 another strand about hve feet above the ground. These wires can 

 be kept from slacking by placing stakes at intervals of ten or fifteen 

 feet. Ordinary wool twine is then run from the bottom to the top 

 wire and thence to the bottom wire again, and so on, in a zigzag 

 fashion, throughout the length of the row, placing it in such man- 

 ner that the strands of string will be no more than a foot or fifteen 

 inches apart. This makes a very cheap and serviceable trellis and 

 is, no doubt, better than stakes. 



Our Lima beans were planted in 1895 on the 31st day of May. 

 They might have been planted a few days earlier, no doubt, with 

 perfect safety. If one desires to get his beans ahead very early, he 

 can plant them in a forcing-house or cold-frame in pots or on inver- 

 ted sods, or in refuse berry boxes, about two weeks in advance of 

 the time they are to be set out of doors. From these receptacles 

 they can be transferred easily to the ground. One of our constitu- 

 ents says that he always greases his Lima beans thoroughly w-ith 

 lard when he plants them and is thereby able to plant his crop a 

 week or ten days ahead of the usual time, because the grease pre- 

 serves the beans from rotting. We have not tried this method and 

 do not know what value it has. It is an easy matter to transplant 

 Lima beans, even when they are not grown in pots or boxes, if the 

 ground is moist when they are taken up so that a large lump of 

 earth adheres to the roots and if the weather is somewhat humid 

 following the transfer. But, in spite of all that can be done, nearly 

 every variety of the large Lima beans wnll fail to mature its full 

 crop in the north before frost. If half the pods which the vines 

 have set should mature before frost comes, the grower may feel that 

 he has been very successful. The green pods which remain at frost 



