118 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



to them, and sow plaster upon them at least once before they 

 blossom. 



Time : corn-planting time for spring. July to October, ac- 

 cording to latitude, for fall use or salting for winter. 



At New York, May to August. 



Bush beans are sometimes called kidney beans from the form 

 of many of the varieties, and cranberry for the same reason ; 

 snaps from their being used while the pods are sufficiently ten- 

 der to snap without showing fibres, and dwarfs or bush beans 

 from their habit of growth, not requiring poles, but being self- 

 supporters. 



These beans may be planted from the very earliest corn- 

 planting time to the last month of summer at the North, and 

 at the South on into September. In favorable weather six 

 weeks for the earlier kinds, and eight weeks for the later, will 

 be found long enough to allow for the production of the green 

 crop. They should be thinly sown in rows about eighteen 

 inches or two feet apart, and covered about an inch. Hoe 

 them well as soon as they come up, earth them up a little as 

 they grow, sowing plaster lightly over them from time to time, 

 and there is scarcely a fear of failure. 



For early kinds, the Mohawk, the China, and the Valentine 

 may be sown. To succeed these, the Union, the Rob Roy, the 

 marrowfat, the large white kidney, and the refugee. 



The China, the white kidney, the marrowfat, the Valentine, 

 the Union, are all superior to the common white or dumpling 

 bean for winter use in the dry state, and on this account are 

 preferable to the darker colored beans, which, when dry, arc 

 unfit for cooking, dark-colored beans being both strong and un- 

 sightly. The refugee is perhaps the best bean to plant late for 

 pickles, or for salting green for winter use as a table vegetable. 



For this latter purpose the beans are prepared as for cooking, 

 many persons splitting the pods in the process, especially if 

 they are pretty large or old. They are then slightly scalded, 

 and when cool are packed closely into a keg or barrel, each lay- 

 er being carefully but moderately salted, and a few sprigs of 

 summer savory or other aromatic herb added. When required 



