16 THE SEED-GROWER. 



the seed used for planting must be pure and true to 

 variety. Planting is usually made in northern latitudes 

 about June 1st, at the rate of one bushel per acre, in 

 single rows three feet apart, beans being dropped two 

 to three inches apart in the row. Some few growers 

 plant in hills ten inches apart, two or three beans in a 

 hill; but the former is the preferable way. 



Cultivation should be begun two or three days after 

 seeding, and should be kept up continuously through- 

 out the season. The early cultivation destroys the 

 weeds that first start before the seeds are up. A drag- 

 tooth cultivator with five teeth is generally used for 

 this purpose, so that the earth is thrown against the 

 rows. Sometimes, when grass is starting in the crop, 

 a point that presents a cutting edge in front, is attached 

 to the cultivator, but this is only used in case the grass 

 has obtained quite a start. 



In the Middle West harvest begins about September 

 1st, varying, according to the season, from September 

 1st to 15th. A bean crop is expected to mature in 

 about one hundred days. Except that a rain, which 

 may damage the color or brightness of the seed, must 

 be avoided on the crop after it is gathered, there is no 

 waiting for favorable weather; when the crop is suffi- 

 ciently matured it must be taken in. This is known 

 when the bulk of the pods are ripe. If it is awaited 

 until all are ripe, loss by shelling in handling would be 

 too great. The method of taking out the crop is to pull up 

 the plants with a machine called a bean puller. Several 

 such machines are on the market; one that is, perhaps, 

 the most popular is the Bidwell, made at Batavia, N. Y. 



When the bean-puller has pulled several rows, the 

 beans are forked into one row and allowed to lie in the 

 large row until quite dry, when they are hauled to the 



