Vol. LV. No. 2447. NEW YORK, DECEMBER 19, 1896. 
Do Not Pinch the Vines Back. 
1. The Eastern markets seem to 
prefer “fat” varieties like Chal¬ 
lenger, while at the West, flat sorts 
seem the most popular. 2. Siebert’s 
Early, Challenger and Kumerle. 3. 
In rows running north and south, 
and about five feet apart, with about 
ten plants to the rod, supported by 
five to eight poles about eight feet 
tall, set leaning to the north at an 
angle of about 35 degrees from the 
perpendicular, and connected at the 
top by wool twine. 4. About 40 
seeds to the rod. 5. I would plant 
on soil which was well dressed with 
stable manure the previous year. If 
such is not available, I would ap¬ 
ply the stable manure in the fall, 
cultivating it into the surface. I 
would not use any in the spring. 6. 
This will depend upon the condition 
of the soil. 7. Yes, I would use 
both manure and fertilizer. 8. Well- 
rotted stable manure, ground bone 
and wood ashes. 9. No, do not pinch 
the vines back. 10. So variable, de¬ 
pending upon conditions, that an 
average would be misleading. 11. 
It depends upon market and local 
climate. 12. As soon as the soil is 
fairly warm and dry ; about the 
same time as field corn. 13. About 
1 % to 2 inches below the surface. 
In heavy, cold and wet soils, it is an 
advantage to have the bean on edge; 
whether the eye is down or up is 
not so important. In light, dry, 
warm soils, this position is imma¬ 
terial. 14. Yes ; train from one pole 
to another. will w. tracy. 
Detroit, Mich. 
No Difference in Quality. 
1. Our local buyers do not seem 
to discriminate between the fat and 
the flat Limas. With them, Lima 
beans are Lima beans, and only 
their general appearance, size, etc., 
count. 2. The question of quality 
seems to me like the discussions 
about quality in white-shelled and 
brown-shelled eggs ; a good deal of 
it hinges on imagination, and I will 
wager that few if any people can 
tell in the dark, by taste only, 
whether they are eating an egg that 
had a white or brown shell, or 
ALL ABOUT LIMA BEANS. 
METHODS OF CULTURE; NEW VARIETIES. 
Notes from the Rural Grounds. 
1. Which sort does the market prefer—a fat bean like Dreer’s, or 
fiat ones like King of the Garden, Salem Improved, Siebert’s 
Early, or Challenger ? 
2. What Lima is best in quality? 
3. What do you find the most profitable way to grow Limas ? 
4. How many seeds to the pole ? 
5. How much manure, how placed ? 
6. Is fertilizer better than manure ? 
7. Is it better to use both fertilizer and manure ? 
8. What kind of manure? 
9. Is it well to pinch back the vines after they reach a certain 
height ? What height ? 
10. Wbat is the yield per acre ? 
11. How much importance attaches to earliness ? 
12. When should beans be planted ? 
13. How deep ? Is it important that eyes should be set down ? 
14. Is it a good plan when the vines reach the top of rather 
short poles to train them from one pole to 
another instead of pinching back ? 
whether the Lima beans they are eating, are Dreer’s, 
King of the Garden, or any other variety. At any 
rate, it would take an epicure of the first water to 
accomplish such a feat. We have always considered 
the fat (Dreer’s) Lima the richest in quality, closely 
followed by the red and speckled varieties of the 
large flat Lima ; but I am not quite sure how much 
imagination and prejudice had to do with this prefer¬ 
ence. For tenderness and sweetness, I would rely 
much more on timely gathering and good cooking 
than on selection of variety. Lima beans, to be at 
their best, should be gathered just before the pods 
begin to turn yellow, which is, also, the right time to 
make them most profitable for market, as the individ¬ 
ual beans are then of largest size. Next give them 
into the hands of a good cook, and allow her proper 
time to cook them tender. 
3. Nobody could have been more enthusiastic than 
THE 
FULL POD. 
SALEM 
IMPROVED LIMA 
INSIDE VIEW. 
BEAN. Fig. 274. 
myself about the new bush Limas-from the very time 
of their introduction. I have nursed the Kumerle, 
and Burpee’s Big Lima, etc., for years, in the expecta¬ 
tion that we had in them the “coming” Limas, as 
they seemed to give us the easiest and most profitable 
way to grow Limas for market. Then I had to nurse 
my hope for some years more, along with this new 
form of the popular bean, but, alas, and alack! the 
hope had to be abandoned, and this I shall also do 
with the large bush Lima. It is lacking in vigor aDd 
productiveness, especially the latter, and we can pro¬ 
duce Lima beans much easier, and more on less 
ground, by planting the pole forms, than we can by 
growing the bush Limas. But of poles we use none, 
simply because we have none. Besides, the post and 
wire trellis which I described some years ago, *s so 
easily put up, so ornamental, and so productive of 
good results, that I would prefer it, even though we 
had poles. Set end posts firmly, and 
have them well braced. Any kind 
of posts or stakes will do for the 
rest. Stretch a reasonably strong 
wire five or six feet high, another 
lighter one six inches from the 
ground, and wind cheap twine (wool 
twine or cotton yarn) zigzag fashion 
around the two wires. If the 
ground is as rich as it should be for 
Limas, the whole trellis will be 
covered in due time with a mass of 
green, and the pods can be easily 
gathered from each side of this 
sheet of foliage. 
4. We use plenty of seed, perhaps 
one to each three inches of row. 
Some fail to grow; some may be 
cut down by cut worms, or come in 
a crippled condition, and unless we 
have been liberal with the seed, 
vacant spots will be frequent and a 
source of reduced yield. 
5, 6, 7 and 8. Lima beans, to bring 
a heavy yield, need very rich soil. 
On sandy loam in New Jersey, I 
have grown excellent crops by the 
free use of commercial fertilizers 
alone. There I used poultry ma¬ 
nure as a change now and then, but 
in more limited quantity than I 
would have liked to use. Here, on 
our heavier loams, nothing will 
give us the same happy results as 
good old barnyard or stockyard ma¬ 
nure. Our land requires the incor¬ 
poration of plenty of humus, else it 
will not give us heavy crops of most 
vegetables. Sometimes we use top- 
dressings, rather light, of hen ma¬ 
nure, and occasionally of commer¬ 
cial fertilizers (mostly potash and 
bone). The yard manure is applied 
at the rate of not less than 60 to 80 
tons per acre, and this quantity, 
even without additional dressings, 
brings us all the Limas that one 
could expect from a piece of ground. 
9. We never pinch the vines back, 
and do not find it necessary. On 
very rich ground, our Limas bear 
until stopped by frost. On poorer 
ground, their vitality, apparently, 
becomes exhausted rather early in 
the season. The whole crop then 
comes to maturity long before the 
first fall frost. 
10. I can’t say as to yield per acre. 
11. We like to have Limas early, 
and sometimes-start plants in plant 
