154 MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



not to be preferred to a few days' delay in the ar- 

 rival in profusion of this coveted relish. 



" Though beans themselves are gross feeders, 

 under favorable culture and weather conditions, 

 they are nevertheless delicate. Because ground is 

 too poor to grow anything else, it is not infre- 

 quently planted to beans. This is unfair to the 

 beans; they, too, like humus. Give them suitable 

 soil, or make the soil suitable through fertilization 

 ■ — a deep, mellow seed bed and plenty of room. 

 More vine, more crop, if properly spaced. 



" While blooming and bearing, bean rootlets, 

 which are many and filmy, permeate the soil into 

 middles. Better not cultivate too near the row, 

 nor deeply at this stage of growth. At this point, 

 if possible, stop cultivation entirely. Their own 

 shade mulch may do more than you can do unless 

 you are trying to resuscitate an old row, which has 

 furnished you' beans for a week or ten days. 

 Usually it is more economical to remove these 

 vines and plant a second crop, or put it in sugar 

 corn. 



" Vines of bush snaps are short lived. Pole va- 

 rieties continue longer in bearing provided the pods 

 are clipped off as fast as they assume edible dimen- 

 sions; they will die in the process of maturing seed. 

 No trellis can offer as natural conditions for vining 

 purposes as the stout, old-fashioned barky pole well 

 anchored in the hill. A Kentucky Wonder would 

 crawl 2 feet to climb one. Butter beans are the 

 seedmen's limas. Just now I am much interested 

 in Giant Stringless. They require the whole sea- 

 son in which to mature, and furnish several pick- 

 ings. Bunch limas are earlier than the pole, but 

 not quite so excellent. The Dwarf Horticultural 

 is a shell-out bean. It ranks with the best, is 



