276 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



LIMA BEANS. 



The great value of the Lima Bean, 

 for summer as well as for winter use, is 

 everywhere gaining for it increasing 

 popularity. The principal difficulty in 

 its culture is to produce it early enough, 

 as the plant is very tender and cannnot 

 be planted before permanently warm 

 weather sets in. 



Mr. B. G. Smith, who has been very 

 successful in the cultivation of this 

 vegetable, communicated to the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society his me- 

 thod, which consists in sowing the seed 

 about the middle of April (being careful 

 to place the eye down), in what are 

 known as " cucumber boxes," filled with 

 loam, five seeds in each. The boxes are 

 without bottoms, six inches in height, 

 seven inches square at the top and eight 

 inches square at the lower part, and are 

 made of half-inch stuff. They cost six 

 dollars and a half per hundred, and his 

 have already been in use ten years. He 

 was the tii-st to use them to forward 

 Lima Beans, and finds them invaluable 

 for this purpose. When the Beans are 

 planted the boxes are placed in the cold 

 grapery. When the plants are about 

 two feet high, the ground is prepared 

 and the poles are set out, and a hole 

 large enough to receive the box is made 

 at the foot of each. A box is then lifted 

 on a shovel, placed in the hole and the 

 shovel withdrawn. The box is then re- 

 moved by lifting up; the object of 

 making the top an inch smaller than the 

 bottom being to permit this. 



It is not advisable to set out the young 

 plants before the first of June, but this 

 is as early as the seed can be planted 

 out-doors, and by forwarding in this way 

 five weeks can be gained, and the beans 

 can be had fresh from the garden from 

 the middle of August to the middle of 

 October. 



The Lima Bean is a tropical plant and 

 requires a long season. Any surplus 

 can be dried for winter use, and when 



soaked can hardly be distinguished from 

 fresh beans. In saving seed the earliest 

 beans should be carefully selected. — 

 American Garden. 



STONE'S HARDY BLACKBERRY 



Is a chance seedling which origi- 

 nated near Rockford, Illinois. In the 

 spring of 1874, I obtained a few roor.s 

 of a friend who had been cultivating 

 them in his garden four years with ex- 

 cellent success. I bought some genu- 

 ine Snyder roots the same spring, and 

 set them both h^re in Wisconsin, side 

 by side, and have given them the same 

 cultivation, every year since, without 

 any winter protection to either. Have 

 set some of each variety every year 

 since 1874, and after growing this new 

 variety eight years, by the side of the 

 Snyder, I can better describe it by 

 comparing it with the Snyder, which 

 is conceded to be the hardiest variety 

 under general cultivation. During the 

 eight years I have had them side by 

 side, the Hardy has always passed 

 through the winter in better condition 

 than the Snyder, which was twice 

 killed to the ground, while the Hardy 

 was injured only on the end of the 

 branches. The crop of the Snyder for 

 those two years was a failure, but that 

 of the Hardy was good. 



It is the universal opinion of the 

 many who visit my grounds and see 

 the two varieties side by side in their 

 prime that the Hardy is the most pro- 

 ductive and better in quality than the 

 Snyder, 



It is an upright and vigorous grower ; 

 the wood is stocky, short jointed, ripens 

 early, turns dark red, and is very hardy. 

 The berry is black and glossy when 

 ripe, and has a delicious flavor. It 

 commences to ripen its fruit about five 

 days later than the Snyder, and con- 

 tinues bearing ten days longer; the 

 fruit is well protected by the thick, 

 healthy foliage. — I. N. S. 



