THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 259 



occupied during the winter months by some cover crop, such as wheat 

 or rye, and if the same land is used year after year for the production 

 of beans, the turning under of winter cover crops furnishes an 

 important means by which the store of organic matter in the soil can 

 be maintained, a consideration of great moment in sections chiefly 

 dependent upon commercial fertilizers as a source for available plant 

 food. 



After the land has attained proper dryness in the spring it should 

 be plowed from 6 to 8 inches in depth, and immediately compacted 

 and harrowed, so as to prevent the loss of moisture. The surface of 

 the seed bed should be made smooth and fine, so that the drill or 

 planter can be economically used UDOD it. If dry weather follows at 

 this season of the year, a good practice is, immediately preceding the 

 planting of the crop, to run a heavy land roller over the area, particu- 

 larly if the planting is done with an ordinary grain drill. If the 

 planting is done with a planter similar to the ordinary corn planter 

 and the land has been rolled previously, it is advisable to go over it 

 with a spike-tooth harrow or some other type of smoothing harrow 

 after the crop has been planted, in order that the land may not possess 

 a compacted condition from the substratum to the surface. 



Planting. Growers have found that it is better to postpone 

 planting the crop until as late in the season as is practicable and yet be 

 able to safely harvest the crop before the vines are injured by fall 

 ^ ~frost./The late planted crop has the advantage of escaping the most 

 jK>C8erious attacks of the bean rust.f "While there are undoubtedly 

 varieties which are more or less resistant to this trouble, yet the general 

 practice of late planting has been found to be of decided advantage. 

 In planting the field crop the distance between the rows varies from 

 28 to 36 inches, according to the implements used in harvesting the 

 crop, 30 inches being a very satisfactory and not an unusual distance 

 for placing the rows. The seeds are so scattered as to fall from 2 to 4 

 inches apart in the row. The ideal distance would be undoubtedly 6 

 inches, if it were possible to obtain a perfect stand of plants at this 

 distance. For distributing the seed in me row at these distances a bean 

 planter or a check row corn planter may be set to drop the seeds in 

 drills. A common practice is to use an ordinary grain drill and stop 

 a sufficient number of tubes to enable two or three rows of beans to 

 be planted at the proper distance apart without the necessity of pur- 

 chasing a special implement. 



Quantity of Seed. The quantity required to plant an acre of 

 beans varies with the size of the beans ; that is, a half-bushel of small 

 Pea beans is sufficient to plant an acre of ground, while a bushel of 

 Red Kidney beans is hardly sufficient to plant an acre when the seed 

 is distributed in the ordinary fashion in drills rather than in hills. 

 In planting beans of the Pea and Marrow types the quantity of seed 

 vanes from one-half to a bushel per acre, depending upon the quality 

 of the beans and upon the preferences of the planter. For Kidney 

 beans the quantity varies from a bushel to as much as six pecks per 

 acre. Ordinarily, with rows 30 inches apart, a bushel is a sufficient 

 quantity for seeding an acre. 



