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Thk Cornell Rrading-Courses 



arc larj^cr. Beans are tender when the pods will break with a snap and 

 when there are no strings. Lima beans should be harvested w^hen the 

 seeds are of larger size, but before they become too hard. Beans should be 

 picked with the least possible injury to the pod and the plants, for it should 

 be remembered that the plants are tender, living things, and they should 

 be treated as such. Beans may be put into any convenient receptacle 

 as they are being picked, but a basket holding a peck or a half bushel is 

 very serviceable. One picking may be followed by another in a very 

 short time, and with some varieties of beans two pickings are all that can 

 be made satisfactorily. After the frost has killed the plants, the patch 



Fig. 2. — Harvesting snap beans 



should be cleaned up either by plowing or by burning or composting the 

 weeds and vines. 



Yields. — Green, or snap, beans yield from seventy-five to one hundred 

 and twenty bushels per acre, lima beans, not shelled, from seventy-five 

 to one hundred bushels, and shell beans from ten to twenty-five bushels. 



BEETS 



The most valuable part of the beet plant is its root, which, in order to 

 be of high quality, must be tender, smooth, and symmetrical. These 

 high qualities are produced by rapid growth in a deep, rich, loose soil 

 during a cool season. If the soil is very hard or shallow, the roots are 

 short, have a tendency to branch, and are irregular in form. In growing 

 beets good tilth is an important factor, for it produces quick growth. 

 Beets are rather hardy and relatively easy to grow. 



