430 Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



The contest is to be decided on which crop will bring the most money 

 from a square rod of soil — beans or potatoes. 



Hozv to make conditions favorable for both sides in the contest 



That each side may get the most out of its choice of crop, it is neces- 

 sary to give the chosen plant the most favorable conditions for growth. 

 The potato and the bean each has its own peculiar requirements as to 

 what makes it comfortable. They differ as much in this respect as do 

 boys and girls in Avhat they think good to eat. For example, the bean is 

 a warm weather plant, and must not be put in the ground until all danger 

 of frost is past, or, if I may say, until settled barefoot and swimming time 

 has come. But potatoes may be planted from the twentieth of April up 

 to the time when the first strawberries ripen, which in most parts of the 

 State is about June fifteenth. 



the beans 



There are pole beans and there are bush beans. In some places poles 

 are difficult to obtain. In this contest only bush beans would better 

 be planted. 



Among the busli beans there is the field bean, sold after the seed 

 is ripe. It is from this class that our baked beans come. Another type 

 of bush bean is what are sometimes called " string beans," or " snap 

 beans," or " wax podded beans." They are to be picked when the pod 

 is tender and meaty, and when cooked like green peas, some people pre- 

 fer them as a substitute. They make excellent pickles and match well 

 with the sandwiches at a picnic. 



Enemies and disease of the bean 



While the beans are growing, look sharp for robbers — I mean 

 weeds. Boys and girls who will let a lot of weeds get the better of them 

 cannot be good for much, but it often happens, nevertheless. I have 

 seen grown men give v\p to a parcel of weeds. The best time to kill 

 weeds is when they are babies — I mean wl^en they are just peeping 

 through the ground, before they are big enough to steal much of the 

 fertility and moistiu-e from the soil. 



The most serious bean trouble is a visit from other plants that come 

 and live on the bean plants, causing what we know as a " ])lant disease." 

 These plants that sponge their living are fungi (or fungus when w'e speak 

 of only one). They are " parasites " because they live and grow on other 

 plants. There is a fungus that causes " rust " on l)eans. and another kind 

 that causes a disease called " an-thrac-nose." The fungi that cause these 

 troubles are so small that they can scarcely be seen by the naked eye. 



When any fungous disease is well established — started I should say 



