PLANTING LIST 319 



just beginning to be imported from France. The Scarlet Runner is 

 perhaps the best bean for a very small garden, since it yields flowers, 

 snap beans, and shell beans. The English broad bean is not much 

 grown in America, since it does poorly, and cannot compare with the 

 lima, which the Englishman cannot grow. 



Beans will grow in almost any garden soil. Give no fresh manure. 



Beets : A very useful vegetable, yielding both greens and roots. 

 The greens with very small beets make a delicious dish. The 

 form of the root is either long or round, with the round more popu- 

 lar nowadays, since they grow quicker. Beets are very hardy. 

 Sow thinly, since each seed gives several plants. Soak the seed 

 overnight to hasten sprouting. Beets like a medium soil, moist 

 but not wet. Fertilize -with top-dressing. They can be much 

 helped by nitrate of soda, applied beside the young plants. 



Sow the seed in rows nine to eighteen inches apart, if the 

 garden is to be cultivated by hand tools. If the seed is thinly 

 sowed, the plants need not be thinned until they are large enough 

 to be used as greens. Then thin to an inch or more apart, and re- 

 peat until the plants stand three or four inches apart. Keep on 

 taking out every other plant as needed, until they all are gone. 

 Beets may be planted under glass in March, outdoors in April, and 

 every two or three weeks until August, or for greens even later. 

 They are seldom transplanted. Roots dug in the fall should be 

 stored in wet sand, to prevent shriveling. 



Begonias : Ornamental plants, often of the brightest and most 

 profuse flowers, or of handsome foliage. They are of little value 

 out of doors, except in a shady border or along the north wall of a 

 house, where they show brilliantly. They divide into three classes. 



Tuberous-rooted begonias may be grown from seed or from tubers. 

 The seed may be started in March or April, by simply pressing it 

 into the soil. Keep moist and in darkness till sprouted. Trans- 

 plant early into pots, and bring along rapidly under considerable 

 heat. Do not set outdoors until June, in moist but well drained 

 soil, and at least in partial shade. To grow the plants from seed is 

 difficult, therefore it is best to buy tubers. Plant these with the 



