Mid-Season Vegetables 



for string beans and for very early beans a few 

 may be started in the hotbed and transplanted 

 in the open ground about the twentieth of May 

 at the north — add or subtract a week for each hun- 

 dred miles north or south. The bean, havmg no 

 tap root and a broad spread of lateral roots, is 

 one of the easiest plants to transplant and by 

 starting a hundred plants in the hotbed a much 

 earlier crop will be obtained; that will be filling 

 up the time while the open air planting is coming 

 forward. 



Another very important advantage in starting 

 seed in the hotbed is the larger per cent, of plants 

 obtained; if good seed is used every one may be 

 depended upon to grow. The hotbed also af- 

 fords protection from the enemies that destroy 

 the lima, one of the most destructive being hens, 

 and it will be wase to assure Biddy's absence from 

 the garden until the beans are showing their first 

 leaves as the succulent looking white seeds that 

 first break through the ground have an irre- 

 sistible attraction for her and she will walk along 

 the rows, nipping off every pod as it appears; 



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