362 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



thinly along them about the middle of that month. Drills should be 14 inches apart, and 

 about an inch deep. When growth is good, and the shoots are 4 inches in height, the 

 seedling plants should be thinned out to 6 inches apart, the soil about them being kept 

 well hoed and clean all the season. In the autumn the stems die down, leaving strong, 

 fleshy roots, having a cluster of crowns in the centre. To make a permanent bed, trench 

 during the winter a piece of ground of sufficient size quite 2 feet in depth, mixing into the 

 bottom soil a good dressing of half-decayed manure. Do the same with the top spit of 

 soil, so that, the sides being deep, the ground is well enriched with manure early in April. 

 With the aid of a garden line, throw out trenches 4 inches deep and 7 inches wide, and 

 z\ feet apart. Into these put the best of the seedling Asparagus roots, lifted for the pur- 

 pose, at 2 feet apart, and cover them up and level the soil. Growth the first year should 

 be strong, and can be materially helped by strewing over and hoeing into the soil, after 

 the stems are 12 inches in height, a light dressing of coarse salt or of nitrate of soda. 

 Weeds must be kept down all summer. In the autumn the growths will again die down. 

 During the winter a top dressing of manure may be laid along between the rows. The 

 treatment the second year must be as for the first year, and the same in the winter. Then 

 the following spring, or third season, some of the stems as they appear above the ground 

 may be cut for eating up to the middle of June, and the following year cutting may go on 

 till the end of that month, and the same for many years after. Dressings of salt or nitrate 

 of soda may be given each summer, and of manure each winter, and so treated, a bed as 

 advised, not raised, but kept level with the ground, will prove the most profitable, and 

 give good Asparagus in abundance. But it is useless to put out plants without first pre- 

 paring the ground. 



Beans. Of these pod-bearing vegetables there are three distinctive forms: Broad or 

 Longpods, Climbers, and Dwarf Kidney. The first named are fairly hardy, the last 

 mentioned are quite tender. 



Beans, Broad. These Beans may be sown as early in the year as January, other sow- 

 ings being made in the two following months. Because the plants are very susceptible to 

 attacks of a black insect called aphis, or dolphin, it is not advisable to make sowings 

 later than the end of March in the south or the end of April in the north, except where 

 the air is moist and the soil deep and holding. The plants make very erect growths, 

 carrying two or three stems from each seed. In good ground they will reach to a height of 

 3 feet, but when some 15 inches of bloom is expanded on the stems it is wise to pinch out 

 the top of the plants, as that checks growth, and causes the pods to form and lengthen. 

 The usual rule is to sow in drills, 4 inches deep, drawn at 2 feet apart, the seed beans being 

 placed 4 inches apart in the drills. Sometimes double drills are drawn 6 inches apart, the 

 seeds being placed into each as already advised. In such cases the rows should be fully 

 2^ feet apart. As Broad Beans seldom find favour after Peas become plentiful, that again 

 is another reason for not making more than about three early sowings, except where these 

 Beans are specially desired. 



The Broad form of Beans is known as Windsor, and there are ordinary brown-seeded 

 and green-seeded, or Green Windsor. All the pods are very broad and rather short, 

 seldom producing more than two Beans in each pod. Those who like large Beans when 

 cooked, or if allowed to get rather old, then boiled and skinned before being served to 

 table, think these Broad Beans best. The Longpod form includes several varieties, the 

 best being Early Longpod, Johnson's Wonderful, the best Main Crop one, and the Seville 

 Aquadulce, which is known under various names. This latter produces few, but very 

 long pods on a plant. Sometimes the pods are 12 inches in length. But the two first 

 named are much the most profitable. There is a very dwarf form known as Dwarf Fan 

 Cluster or Green Gem, but this is seldom grown. 



These hardy Beans do best on stiff holding, deeply-worked, well-manured soil. When 

 the black-fly which so commonly infests these Beans appears, it is always on the young 

 tops. These may be picked off carefully, and be carried away and scalded, as if thrown 

 on the ground where gathered the insects soon return to the plants. When the soil is 

 good and moist, not much trouble is given. A pint of seeds will plant some 60 to 70 feet 

 run of rows. In no case should there be crowding in the hope of securing a fine crop. 

 That would only result in failure. 



Beans, Climbing. These are all tender, and the seeds are of kidney shape, hence the 

 common term Kidney Bean. Their season ranges from May till October, but cold soon 

 injures them. Because they are of climbing habit, it is needful to furnish them with sticks 

 either straight or branching, or string, or a similar support, to which they readily attach 

 themselves, and then in good ground they will grow to a great height. The best form is 

 found in the rough-podded Runner, commonly called the Scarlet or Dutch Runner. This 

 has red-speckled and pure white seeds, the former producing scarlet flowers, the latter 

 white ones. There is an old variety, Painted Lady, the flowers red and white. All have 

 the same character in leaf, pod, and productiveness. The most favoured, however, are the 

 Scarlet Runners. A capital feature in a good row of these Beans is that when well staked 



