DWARF BEANS. 305 



in this way it is all important that the ground should be kept clean. 

 It is no use putting in the crop unless provision is made for keep- 

 ing down the weeds. Otherwise they would inevitably be destroyed, 

 as it is a plant of comparatively feeble growth for a month or two. 

 The seeds will come up thickly in the rows, and should then be hoed 

 out to a distance of six inches between the plants. If the ground has 

 been put in proper condition by plowing, harrowing and manuring a 

 partial crop will be got the third year from the time of sowing, and 

 a full crop the fourth year. After that, the Asparagus bed, with a 

 top dressing of two or three inches of manure every fall, will last for 

 a lifetime. I have seen beds that have been in culture for over thirty 

 years without abating an iota of 'their vigor. Asparagus, when old 

 enough to give a full crop, in the vicinity of New York, brings 

 annually about $500 per acre, the labor costing, at the extreme figure, 

 not over $100 per annum, so that a clear profit of $400 per acre can 

 be made each year. The kind now grown is what is known as 

 Colossal, which should be grown to the exclusion of all others. It is 

 generally known that the part used of the Asparagus is the young 

 bud or shoot coming up, which is cut off when it is five or six inches 

 above the ground. It varies in thickness from half an inch to an inch 

 and a half, and is tied in bunches usually weighing about one pound 

 each when sold in the market. 



BEAN BUSH, KIDNEY OR SNAP. 



This vegetable is so well known by every one who grows any vege- 

 tables at all, that but little instruction in its culture is necessary. It 

 may be grown o*a poor soil, although it will always be more tender 

 when quickly grown on rich or highly manured land. The bush bean 

 is a tropical plant, and hence should not be sown until the ground 

 becomes warm. A good rule is to sow it about the date of corn 

 planting, in rows eighteen inches to two feet apart, the seed being 

 dropped in the drills at about two inches apart and the soil drawn 

 over them with the foot, as that is the best way to cover seeds of this 

 size. Like all crops, after planting, they should not be allowed to 

 remain over a week before the hoe or rake is applied to keep down 

 the weeds. We cannot too often insist on the necessity of this for 

 every crop, as the work of an hour with a rake five or six days after 

 planting or sowing, so as to break the crust on the soil, and destroy 

 the embryo weeds, will be more effective than ten hours' labor if this 

 is neglected until three weeks after. It will be understood, thai this 

 crop is used almost always in the pod in a green, unripe state, and is 



