BEANS. 197 



over all others, recently exhibited some of his best samples at 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Exhibition, and was 

 badly beaten by larger and heavier specimens of the common 

 Asparagus, which made no pretensions whatever to being colossal. 

 High cultivation, plenty of manures judiciously applied, with a 

 deep alluvial soU, will make all the difference we have yet seen, 

 without trying to make people believe that it is a different 

 variety. 



BEANS. 



It is usual to separate beans iato two classes, the one com- 

 prising all those varieties which have a dwarf or bushy habit of 

 growth, the other embracing those which have a climbing habit, 

 and require a pole or other support. The first class is called 

 Dwarf, or Bush Beans ; the other, Pole, or Running Beans. They 

 are all very sensitive to frost, and on that account should not be 

 planted until the weather is warm enough to plant Indian Com. 



Bush Beans do not necessarily require a rich soil, indeed 

 they will grow in poor soil, but they yield much better in land 

 that has been well enriched. Nor are they very particular as to 

 the character of the soil, so long as it is warm and dry. Wet 

 soils, and shaded situations, are very unfavorable to their culture. 

 They are usually planted in lulls, which may be such a distance 

 apart as is most convenient to the cultivator. K the ground is 

 to be tilled with the aid of a horse, the hills will require to be 

 set in rows three feet apart, and the hills two feet apart in the 

 row. If intended to cultivate wholly by hand, the hills may be 

 eighteen inches apart each way. As the young plants are sub- 

 ject to the depredations of cut-worms, it is well to plant eight 

 beans in each hill ; but if five grow, it will be sufficient. Some- 

 times they are so"\m in drills three inches deep, and eighteen 

 inches apart, and the beans dropped about two inches apart in 

 the drills. The following varieties are the most desirable. 



Eablt Valentine. — This bean is not excelled by any in the 

 tender succulence of its pods when green. They are of moderate 



