2,6 JOHNSON & STOKES 
preceding pages. Complete fertilizers or those containing 
phosphoric acid and potash must be supplied. Only nitrogen 
is derived from the air. 
Soil Inoculation. — The soil of a new bean patch is some- 
times inoculated with soil from an old patch, to get quick 
action of the bacteria (little organisms), which form the 
lumps or tubercles on the roots. The scattering of a little 
soil over the surface is all that is required. 
Care should be taken to avoid the transfer of soil for this 
purpose from a patch affected with rust or blight, as diseases 
are carried from place to place with only too much ease. 
When to Plant — Beans may safely be planted when the 
apple is in bloom, in May; not so early as peas, as beans are 
less hardy. The ground should be dry and warm. Beans of 
all kinds demand shallow planting, as the seeds must be lifted 
from the ground in the earliest process of growth. The seed 
swells, bursts, sends a shoot (radicle) downward, and the two 
parts of the seed, called the seed-leaves, are pushed up into 
the daylight. Small round beans can take care of them- 
selves, as they turn easily in the soil, but lima beans often 
perish in the effort to get above ground. This is why lima 
beans should always be planted eye down, and less than an 
inch deep. A half inch is deep enough for most beans. If 
lima beans are wanted extra early, they should be started on 
small squares of inverted sod, under glass. 
The earliest bush beans yield marketable pods within 
forty to fifty days from planting; the pole beans in from 
seventy to ninety days from planting. There should be suc- 
cessional plantings made of the bush beans from the first 
date to within fifty days of frost. The different types of 
beans are fully and carefully described in the seed cata 
logues. 
Distances. — Poles for beans should be set about 4 feet 
apart each way; or, in single rows, about 3 feet apart. Not 
