Seed or Fruit Crops
Beans.—Dry-shell beans should be allowed to stay on the plants until the pods dry up and become yellow. They may then be gathered, and shelled when convenient. If they are infested with weevils they should be dry baked in a temperature of about 145° Fahr. Care must be taken not to allow the temperature to rise above this figure, or the beans will be roasted and spoiled. Fumigating with carbon disulphide is also an efficacious expedient, but somewhat dangerous because of the explosive properties of the fumigant.
Pumpkin and Winter Squash can be stored in a warm, dry room. It is advisable to turn over the fruits selected for storing two weeks or so before they are harvested, so that the side that has been lying on the ground may have its rind hardened by exposure to sun and air.
Although concerned primarily with “war gardens,” the methods advocated can be used by all vegetable growers who practise intensive cultivation. The fundamental principles of soil management also apply equally to flower-gardens.
The writer has found in his experience that good crops can be raised, on what would be usually considered poor soil, by men and women who know little of horticultural practices. Larger crops could have been produced had they known more of the art of growing vegetables. It is to help such people that this book has been written, from information gained during twenty years of professional experience.
It is the earnest hope of the author that the crops raised by “war gardeners” will be of such a size as to cause this last chapter to be the one that is most consulted.