BOOK OF THE HOME GARDEN 



shells are yellow. If you do not pick your beans 

 when they are ripe for food, the plant will stop 

 blooming, but if you pick them as fast as they are 

 ready, the plant will make more blossoms and you 

 will have more beans. 



Limas are queer seeds; the best way to test 

 them is to hold them to the light and see if the 

 seeds are large enough to eat ; bend the pod upward 

 and pick with the stem on the pod. 



Sweet Corn hangs a sign out when it is ready 

 to use for food. Its silk turns brown as it be- 

 gins to ripen. First the tips, then up the silk to- 

 ward the ear ; when the silk is brown all the way up 

 to the ear, you will know it is ready to pick. Some 

 people strip the husk down and look at the grains ; 

 if they are not large enough they smooth the husk 

 back into place, but this is not a good thing to do 

 because the air gets in and the corn grains dry and 

 shrivel. Use two hands when picking corn. Grasp 

 the corn stalk with the left hand, the ear with the 

 right, then bend the ear down and twist. Never 

 husk corn until you are ready to cook it and try to 

 pick it as near cooking time as possible. "Out of 

 the garden and into the kettle" is the way to have 

 perfect corn. 



Pop Corn is used when it is ripe for seed; the 



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