March, 1909 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS vii 
I prefer the eight rowed, as giving most corn 
with least cob. My beans are also hybrids of 
my own creating. I have started and thrown 
away over four hundred sorts, and now re- 
tain a half dozen sorts of extraordinary quali- 
ties, and every one a pole bean. Poling a bean, 
where the pole stands between two hills, does 
not make a great amount of trouble, and ten 
hills will give food enough for a large family. 
The pods of these sorts are about seven inches 
long and very solid. There is no vegetable, in 
my judgment, to excel the string bean of this 
sort, when well cooked. By breaking down 
three or four poles in September you can 
cover them against the early frosts, and have 
golden string beans until November. Note 
now that you can grow your beans on the 
same soil year after year, but your corn will 
soon exhaust corn food, so you must change 
location every year. The bean is a legume, 
and can take nitrogen out of the air; but the 
corn must take nitrogen out of the soil. Plow 
under your beans for a while, and then you 
‘can use the spot for corn. 
Now for our melons and quashes. ‘These 
want rich soil and a warm exposure; and it is 
not worth the while to plant the seed before 
the ground gets permanently warm. My com- 
post piles are five or six in number, and they 
are scattered about my gardens, where most 
convenient for distribution. All summer they 
stand idle, only that right in the top I dig a 
hole, and fill it with good garden soil, and 
plant a few squash seed. These will run all 
over the compost pile and give me dozens of 
Hubbard squashes, or what is better, De- 
licious. We owe both of these to Mr. 
Gregory, and they are splendid products of 
garden art. My melons I plant where there is 
plenty of potash and plenty of sunshine. Pot- 
ash is supplied easily by ashes from a bonfire. 
As soon as the seed is in, surround the hills 
with boxes fifteen inches square. When the 
plants have grown to hit the boxes, thin them 
to three in a hill, and cover the box with 
mosquito netting till the beetles are out of the 
way. Squashes will grow about six feet luxuri- 
antly, and then every one of them be killed 
by a boring beetle, unless you adopt this 
simple preventive; cover with fine dirt, three 
or four inches deep, the first one or two joints, 
almost as soon as they are formed. These will 
form roots, and the borer may do his worst 
at the first joint. The squash will grow on 
and bear its fruit luxuriantly. 
How to get the most out of a given area is 
one of your problems. Celery can follow your 
early potatoes; and you may plant your melons 
between your rows of peas. When the peas 
are picked, pull the vines, clean up the soil 
and let the melons occupy it. Turnips will 
follow almost anything of an early sort, and 
give you a fine autumn crop. For succession, 
corn should be planted until June; anything 
later than that will probably not give you ears. 
There are a few wild vegetables that must 
never be overlooked, and some of these it will 
pay to grow in the garden. Dandelions in 
rich soil are so much finer for early greens 
that you might try them. In my Florida gar- 
den I grow sooke and sorrel. These are de- 
licious, and they are better when cooked to- 
gether, for the sorrel adds a touch of fine acid. 
My tomatoes are started in the hotbed, or 
the plants are bought; and they are set as soon 
as the chilly nights are past. It does not pay 
to set slim and small plants. After trying a 
lot of ways, I have come to this sort of train- 
ing. Either tie to a stout stake four or five 
feet tall above the ground, or drive three 
stakes about each plant, over which are slipped, 
at spaces, barrel hoops. The best tomato will 
be what you select yourself from the very best 
fruit. To start with, take one of Mr. Living- 
ston’s best sorts, like Dwarf Stone or Earliana. 
Pinch back some of the side shoots as the 
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