386 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



Bean. — The bean occupies a most important place among the farm 

 garden crops. All classes of beans, being legumes, possess high nutritive 

 value and may often be served as substitutes for meats with satisfaction to 

 the consumer. 



Improved Golden Wax is an excellent wax-podded variety. Burpee 

 Stringless is a leading dwarf green-podded bean. Goddard is a bush 

 variety largely grown as a green-shelled bean. Lazy Wife is a superb 

 green-podded pole bean. Early Leviathan is one of the best early lima beans 

 and King of the Garden is valued as a lat3 lima. White Marrow is one of 

 the best varieties to grow for soup and baking. 



The bean requires a well-drained soil. Sandy loams are preferred, 

 but it is grown successfully in all types of soils. Applications of phosphoric 

 acid are usually beneficial. Extensive plantings should not be made in the 

 spring until the ground is thoroughly warm. Chances may be taken, 

 however, in planting bush wax and green-podded varieties for the home 

 table before conditions are ideal, and replanting can be made if the seeds 

 decay or the plants are killed by frost. 



The rows of bush beans should be far enough apart to be cultivated 

 with a horse, and the seeds dropped two to three inches apart in the rows. 

 An excellent plan is to drop four beans to the hill, the hills being eight or 

 nine inches apart. Pole beans are usually planted in hills 4x4 feet apart. 



Beet. — The beet may be grown in any good garden soil. The smoothest 

 and finest roots are grown in sandy loams. Liberal applications of rotten 

 stable manure are alwaj r s beneficial. Excessive applications of nitrogen 

 should be avoided. Potash and phosphoric acid are often used to advantage. 

 Crosby Egyptian, Eclipse, Early Model and Egyptian are the leading 

 early varieties. Edmond Blood turnip is good to follow early varieties. 



Seed for the early crop is sown in the spring as soon as the ground can 

 be prepared. The seed-bed should be fine and as level as possible. Drills 

 should be made a foot apart for wheel-hoe cultivation. About ten seeds 

 to the foot of furrow should be sown. Plants of early varieties should be 

 thinned to about three inches apart in the row, and late sorts to five or six 

 inches. Clean tillage is essential. An earlier crop may be obtained by 

 starting the plants in hotbeds and greenhouses and transplanting them to 

 the open ground after danger from hard frosts has passed by. 



Brussels Sprouts. — This is a member of the cabbage family which is 

 grown for fall consumption. The seed should be sown at the same time 

 as for late cabbage and under the same conditions. Plants should be 

 thinned to an inch apart. They should be transplanted early in July to 

 rich, moist soil. Clean tillage should be given. Toward the end of 

 summer, when the plants are well grown, the leaves should be cut off along 

 the stalk, except a tuft at the top. This will induce the growth of large 

 buds or "sprouts " in the axils of the removed leaf-stems. Brussels sprouts 

 is regarded as a more delicate dish than cabbage. 



Cabbage. — This is universally regarded as one of the most important 



