132 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 



constructed an instrument for making holes, upon the 

 previously raked beds, exactly an inch and a half deep, 

 and three inches apart. Into these even his poorest 

 hands may properly drop the beans. The implement 

 consists of a wheel upon the periphery, or outer rim, to 

 which are fixed pegs of the desired length and the proper 

 distance apart. Another very successful farmer sows his 

 beans by hand, in a wide furrow three inches deep, and 

 covers them an inch and a half deep with a rake. The 

 former claims a greater uniformity of showing above 

 ground, a nicer appearance, a saving of seed, and greater 

 facility in working the crop, as the hoe and cultivator 

 may run close to the straight row. The other claims 

 that his plants, in the wide furrow, come up in a sort of 

 quincunx order, support each other, and that he gets more 

 plants upon the same area. Others again open the drills 

 by a hoe, or small bull-tongue plow and use a seed drill 

 to sow the seed, and cover by rake, or board, or by means 

 of the covering attachment with which the drill is pro- 

 vided. The drill must of course be arranged to work 

 accurately and satisfactorily, when its use will prove the 

 most expeditious and the cheapest method of planting. 



CULTIVATION. 



When the plants are three or four inches high, the 

 cultivator may be run between the rows, and just before 

 the buds appear, the plow and hoe should be used to land 

 up or draw soil to the stems, a useful operation, and the 

 last in the cultivation of the crop, which is, of course, 

 only to be performed in dry weather. 



PICKING AND PACKING. 



The pods should be picked with great care, so as 

 to cause as little disturbance of the roots as possible, 

 and before the seeds become large enough to bulge 

 out the pods, and while yet crisp enough to "snap" 



