104 
The Garden Magazine, April, 1920 
ience only of these. 1 prefer a wire fence to anything else for 
their support and I like to get the vines up high so that they may 
get plenty of light and air. My fence is 5 1 feet high, but this 
is too low so uprights are nailed to the posts, with single wires 
strung through staples a foot apart in them. This increases 
the height to 9 feet. The beans are planted on both sides of 
the fence and the whole trellis is covered during the summer 
with a dense screen of vines, heavily laden with big pods. Any 
kind of a fence will of course support Limas, and suburban 
dwellers who have long fences could perfectly well utilize them 
for the purpose. Single poles upright, sunk deep so that 
the eventual weight of the vines will not make them sag, are 
good, but a better method of growing is to plant them along a 
permanent lattice-work arbor such as grapevines commonly 
grow on — and, in addition to being ideally supported by such 
a structure they form a very pretty avenue of.shade as well. 
One further consideration remains. This is the planting 
itself. And it is this which causes the average gardener to fail 
with Lima Beans. In the first place beans of all kinds are very 
tender; and they positively will not sprout in damp, chilly soil. 
In middle latitudes it is rarely worth while planting them until 
May first. In planting, the seeds should be pressed two inches 
into the soil with the eye down (the bean being held edgeways). 
This work should be done by hand. If the soil is hard, cover 
each seed with a handful of finely crumbled earth, which may 
be firmed down well over the planted seed. If heavy rains fall 
on a tough soil between the planting and the breaking through 
the ground of the seed, the surface must be worked — but very 
lightly and carefully to avoid injuring the brittle stems which 
are trying to push their way through the earth. As regards 
watering, Limas do not suffer greatly from drought for their 
roots are deep-plunging and their foliage affords shade. But 
sometimes watering seems advisable. Never water at the top 
however. My own method is to sink tin cans, perforated at 
the bottom, between every two plants if along the fence, or a 
can by each bean-pole. When drought comes 1 fill these cans 
once a week and the water is slowly and evenly distributed to 
the roots. 
INTELLIGENT USE OF FERTILIZERS 
Avoiding Mixing Things That Waste Each Other 
H M ELY, intelligent use of fertilizers in the garden be- 
fore we plant cannot possibly be duplicated by means 
of top-dressings, liquid manures and other late season 
stimuli no matter how valuable and effective they 
may be. 
The wise and forehanded gardener will have already done 
much by planting a cover, or green manure, crop last fall — 
rye and vetch, clover, peas and oats. Perhaps, previous to that 
a dressing of manure was turned under and some lime raked in 
later during the winter, and manure spread ready for the spring 
plowing. If so well and good; if not here is the programme 
to follow as closely as possible, beginning immediately. 
Wherever possible get stable manure and have it spread six 
inches deep all over the garden plot. Try to get well rotted 
manure including both cow and horse droppings, but if it is 
mostly the latter see that it is not burned out or “firefanged,” 
as indicated by a white, dusty, lifeless 
appearance. 
At the right moment have this plowed 
or dug under, depending on the size of 
the garden. In either case make the job 
a good deep one. What the “ right mo- 
ment” is for your particular soil and loca- 
tion, only experience can tell; it is when 
the soil is moist but not wet, friable and 
loose but not dry and dusty. 
On the upturned furrows strew some 
form of lime unless you know from past 
seasons’ experience that the soil is not 
sour; in that case better use a good 
dressing of bone meal. Rake or harrow 
this application in; and then (if you really 
want abundant, soul-satisfying crops) 
rake in a dressing of some well-balanced, 
all-round garden fertilizer. Save your 
nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia 
or other favorite “tonics” until your 
crops are up and really growing, and able 
TO MIX, OR NOT TO MIX? 
The materials formed by the white bands may be 
mixed and applied together, but not for storage. 
The thin black lines join materials that can 
be mixed at any time. Do not mix, nor apply 
together the substances joined by heavy black 
lines, as they re-act destructively on each other 
to digest, enjoy and benefit from them. As to cautions: — 
note in the accompanying diagram which kinds of plant 
foods should not be applied together. This is of special 
importance when you mix your own fertilizers, and worth 
considering even when you buy commercial plant food and 
also use manures, lime, or wood ashes. 
If you apply “a little fertilizer” at seed planting time, as 
some advocate, mix the soil and fertilizer first and do not sow 
the seed directly in the dry fertilizer. Why not? Because 
plant food is taken into the roots in solution; fertilizers are dry 
and especially “thirsty” and will absorb-the first moisture they 
can get. If this happens to be in a germinating seed or a lusty 
root-hair with which they are in contact, the fertilizer will play 
the vampire, the seed will be sucked dry (or as we usually say 
“burned”). 
The most valuable fertilizers are the most soluble ones; and 
so are the ones most likely to be picked 
up by the water in the soil, which, if the 
soil be sandy, rapidly leaches through 
and out. This, then is the reason for 
delaying the application of the highly 
soluble forms until the plants are old 
enough to snatch the “soil soup” as it 
trickles past their feeding roots. 
As to lime, the more the average soil 
chemist learns about it, the less he is 
generally willing to affirm as to its true 
relation to soil fertility and plant feeding. 
It does appear certain, however, that it 
helps put in usable form the plant food 
that already exists in the soil, and that 
so long as we keep our ground reasonably 
well supplied with the elements essential 
to plant growth, we can safely work in 
some form of lime whenever the oppor- 
tunity offers to do so without conflicting 
with other fertilizing practices. Look at 
the adjoining diagram. 
