The Busy Woman's Garden Book 



a row, or portion of a row, for seed, allowing the 

 first pods to ripen as this establishes the early- 

 bearing characteristic of the plant. 



In planting beans good soil should be chosen, 

 but beans do not need rich soil as many other 

 garden vegetables do. It is said that beans will 

 grow on soil that will not grow anything else; 

 this is rather an extreme statement, but it is 

 a fact that they will thrive where more exacting 

 plants will languish ; this is accounted for by the 

 fact that the bean is a legume and so empowered 

 to draw an important part of its nourishment 

 from the air in the form of nitrates, which it stores 

 in little pockets or nodules on its roots and so 

 has a larder of its own to draw on. 



Open a drill a couple of inches deep and drop 

 the beans at regular intervals two or three inches 

 apart, or they may be planted three or four in 

 hills, six inches apart ; cover and tramp down the 

 rows and draw the rake lightly over them. Ex- 

 cept for the distance at which they are planted, 

 all beans require practically the same treatment ; 

 they should never be cultivated when wet or gath- 



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