Cultural Directions. — 187 



and thin or transplant to six or eight inches. It can also be 

 grown by division of the root. In that case plant in spring one 

 foot apart each way. All the green parts of the plant have 

 a most agreeable aromatic odor, especially " 

 when bruised. The leaves are used for seasoning. 



BASIL— SWEET. 



Ocymum Basiucitm. German, Basilietikraut; 

 French, Basilic; Spanish, Albaca. — Select light, 

 warm, rich soil, and sow in May, in drills one 

 foot apart, thinning or transplanting to 6 or 8 

 inches apart. The leaves have an agreeable 

 perfume and flavor and are used for seasoning. 



BEANS. 



Sweet Basil. 



Phascolus. German, Bohne ; French, Haricot; Spanish, 

 Jiidia. — Horticulturally we divide the varieties of this important 

 vegetable in two great sections — the Bush and the Pole varieties. 

 In the former we include all those usually grown as a field crop 

 for dry shelled beans, as also the various green-podded snaps, 

 and the yellow-podded wax beans. A more practical classifica- 

 tion could hardly be adopted, since the cultivation of all the 

 varieties of each section is pretty m.uch the same. 



BUSH BEANS. 



The modest requirements of the crop are proverbial, and so 

 it is nothing uncommon to hear farmers speak of land " too poor 

 to raise white beans." Yet the fact which this suggests, is true 

 only in a very limited sense. Their cultivation is decidedly easy 

 and simple, and a crop can be grown on soils of most widely- 

 differing character; but a crop worth growing cannot be produced 

 on soils exhausted of available mineral elements of plant food, 

 especially of potash. Wood ashes and other potash fertilizers 

 are generally of especial benefit to this crop. 



All beans are somewhat tender, and should not be planted 

 until danger of late spring frosts is past, or until the time farmers 

 usually plant corn. For a field crop, on a large scale, seed is 

 best sown with a one or two-horse drill ; but it can also be done 

 with the garden drill. I prefer to lay off the land in furrows, three 

 feet or so apart, made with a common field marker, and to follow 

 with the drill in these marks. This deposits the seed just 

 about right, two or three inches deep, and if any of the beans 

 remain uncovered in the rows, I follow, cover and firm them 

 with the feet. In the garden I simply open furrows, either with 

 a hand plow, or with the hoe, or in any other convenient way, 

 scatter the seed an inch or two apart in the furrow, and 



