282 
Growing Beans in Florida 
ARMING in Florida differs in many 
respects from farming in other parts of 
the United States. Outside of the citrus 
fruits our principal crops are tomatotes, beans, 
eggplants, and peppers raised for shipment 
to northern markets, and these crops, in the 
southern part of the state, are planted any 
time from September 1st to March tst. 
We labor under the disadvantage of long 
distance shipping and in most cases it 1s 
necessary to ship by all rail express. But 
the best seed and large applications of high 
grade fertilizer will pay under the most 
unfavorabie weather conditions. 
A few yards from our house is a quarter 
of an acre of red clay soil which originally 
was covered with pine and palmetto. Last 
year I decided to try green beans on this 
land and planted the French Stringless 
Green Pod. Seed of this variety costs 
about double that of the Refugee, which 
has heretofore been the standard bean in 
this locality. 
The land was covered with crab grass, 
which was dry enough to burn. Instead 
of doing that, however, I put on a heavy 
disk harrow and thoroughly ground up the 
soil and the grass. I then opened furrows 
two and a half feet apart and applied high 
grade fertilizer (analyzing 6 per cent. phos- 
phoric acid, 4 per cent. ammonia, and 5 per 
cent. potash) at the rate of 1,600 pounds to 
the acre. I sowed it by hand in the furrows 
and ran a bull tongue through it, mixing it 
thoroughly. After waiting ten days to 
allow the chemicals to become incorporated 
with the soil, I sowed the beans, also by 
hand, on January 24th, at the rate of a 
bushel and a half-to the acre. The season 
was extremely dry but we had heavy dews, 
and by dropping the seed in the afternoon 
and covering it in the morning while the 
dew was on the ground, I got a good stand. 
The vines were not cultivated until the 
buds began to appear, then, with a hoe, I 
dug a shallow furrow about six inches from 
the vines, in which I sowed the same fertilizer 
(but containing ro instead of 5 per cent. 
potash) at the rate of 1,000 pounds to the 
acre. I raked the loose dirt and trash over 
the fertilizer, but never worked while the 
dew was on the vines. We had two light 
showers while the beans were growing; had 
it been a wet season, the grass and weeds 
would have made it necessary to cultivate 
more often. The character of the soil, 
which has an underlying stratum of coral 
rock, is such that it can withstand quite a 
severe drought without injury to the crops. 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
Just as the young beans were forming, 
the plants began to show signs of mildew. 
I gave them an application of sulphur, shak- 
ing it on to the plants through an old corn 
sack, in the morning before the dew dried. 
The first picking was made on March 
27th. There were thirty-six hampers, 
which sold in the North for $160.75 and netted 
me, exclusive of express and commissions, 
$112. My expenses were as follows: 
Harrowing . $2.00 
Plowing 1.00 
Fertilizer 11.35 
Picking 10.80 
Hampers 3:95 
Hauling 1.80 
$30.90 go 
which left me a net profit on the first ship- 
ment of $81.10. In the North the price 
received for the beans in the summer time 
would be less, but transportation and other 
expenses would also be lower. 
Up to the 1st of June we had all the beans 
we could eat, many were given away and a 
quantity went to waste. When the vines 
had outlived their usefulness, I raked dirt 
up over them, forming ridges or beds, and 
planted sweet potatoes. Of course, it would 
not be possible in the North to follow with 
sweet potatoes, but some other crop the 
next year would benefit from the fertilizer, or 
turnips could be planted in the late summer 
for fall use. 
Florida. 
More Apour the Gardenia 
pe gardenia or Cape jasmine is now 
procurable from southern nursery- 
men. For a long while it was impossible 
to find it mentioned in any American 
catalogue, but its fragrance is so delicious 
that the plant is worth a place in southern 
gardens, where it blooms from May to 
September and is sometimes used for hedges. 
It will grow as far north as Virginia. 
C. R. Ross. 
one of the most fragrant white 
It blooms over a long season 
282 
Gardenia Veitchii, 
flowers. 
JANUARY, 1909 
It is a tender shrub two to six feet high 
with fragrant foliage and waxy white flowers. 
It blooms over a long season and is there- 
fore desirable for cut flowers. 
Connecticut. HENRY MAXWELL. 
Duties for the New Year 
PEAN now to have a better garden this 
summer. If you do not already 
know the different varieties of vegetables 
and flowers, learn about them now by study- 
ing the seed catalogues. 
The new improved farm and garden tools 
are great labor savers, and most of them will 
more than pay for themselves the first year. 
Thrash the peanuts off the vines on rainy 
days and store them in a place where mice 
and rats cannot get at them. 
Plants in the window garden must not be 
over watered or their growth will be checked 
and their color changed to a sickly yellow. 
Explicit directions for determining when 
and how to water were given in THE GARDEN 
MacazinE for January, 1907, page 277. 
Begin spraying fruit trees for scale insects 
some time during the month. Do not spray 
after the buds have swelled, which usually 
occurs here in Middle Georgia about the 
first of March. 
Prepare the soil now for planting early 
Irish potatoes next month. 
If you are meaning to grow melons this 
year, spade or plow up the soil now, at least 
twelve inches deep, so that the weeds and 
stubble thereby turned under will have suffi- 
cient time to decay. Sandy loam with clay 
subsoil that has been lying out a year or two 
is the best for melons. A pea sod is also 
good, as vegetable matter is necessary to 
successful melon growing. 
Make a compost now for fertilizing early 
vegetables next month. One of the best 
for this purpose is a mixture of cotton seed 
and horse stable manure. 
Georgia. THOMAS J. STEED. 
Hyacinths in Five Weeks 
AST December I came across two 
hyacinth bulbs which had _ been 
overlooked in the previous fall planting. 
One of these, L’Innocence, I gave to a 
friend, and kept the other, which was a 
Grand Maitre. On February 16th we placed 
these bulbs in bowls about five inches in 
diameter filled with gravel and water, putting 
in a few pieces of broken charcoal to keep 
the water sweet. The bowl containing 
L’Innocence was kept in a dark room having 
a temperature of about 60 to 70 degrees, 
and the other was put in an absolutely dark 
bedroom closet, the temperature of which 
was from 65 to 70 degrees. 
By March 16th, both bulbs had made 
a fine growth of leaves and buds, and we 
brought them into the light. L’Innocence 
was put directly into full light; Grand 
Maitre was kept in subdued light until the 
roth. The former came into full bloom on 
March arst; the latter commenced to bloom 
March 22nd, or just five weeks from the 
time of planting. 
New York. Tuomas W. LETSonN. 
