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GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



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 by early April, which is 

 the time to plant. 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 purpose, 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 preparing 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 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. 'j As Broad Beans seldom find favour after Peas become 

 plentiful, that again is another reason for not making more than about three early sow- 

 ings, 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, all 

 of which are good. Sometimes the pods are 12 inches in length. 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. 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 1 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 a good blind or break in a garden is formed for 

 some three months of the year, or they may be so planted and trained as to make an 

 admirable creeper-covered arbour. 



Culture. Because tender, essentially summer croppers, and long-enduring, it is need- 



