LEADING VEGETABLE CROPS I23 



forms. String beans are very largely grown by 

 gardeners as catch or as succession crops. 



From their nature garden beans must be har- 

 vested entirely by hand, especially when used in the 

 snap form. Their extensive cultivation is practical 

 only in those regions where an abundance of labor 

 is available. After the beans are picked they are 

 usually sorted and packed in the various types of 

 packages found best for certain markets. The 

 bushel and half-bushel hamper are the most popular 

 packages. 



Pole beans require the same soil and climatic con- 

 ditions as bush beans, the only important dif- 

 ference between the two groups being in their habits 

 of growth. Pole beans should be planted in hills 

 from two to three feet apart in rows from 30 to 40 

 inches wide. From four to six beans are planted in 

 each hill and afterwards thinned to two or three plants. 



Lima beans are of two types, pole and dwarf, and 

 are of great commercial importance from the gar- 

 dener's standpoint, especially throughout the more 

 southern truck gardening sections. The plant re- 

 quires a long season for its maturity and in the 

 northern regions the gardener is usually well satis- 

 fied if from one-half to two-thirds of the pods suc- 

 ceed in maturing. Farther south heavier crops are 

 secured. The bush limas are a little hardier and 

 for this reason are more extensively planted in the 

 North. Their requirements are similar to those 

 described for the bush beans, except that the limas 

 require much stronger soils for their proper growth. 

 Unlike many varieties of the bush beans, however, 

 they rarely give satisfactory results on heavier 

 types of soils. Lima beans require heavier manur- 

 ing and heavier applications of commercial fertiliz- 



