For full descriptions of beans, see "Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual."
Location.—In choosing a spot for bean culture the farm gardener should select good mellow soil that has been manured the previous year. Fresh manure produces an excessive growth of vine at the expense of pods.
Making Ready.—Much stable manure, which is rich in nitrogen, should be avoided. In good ordinary soil, with some rotted manure from the previous crop, the bean plant will do well. It will obtain nitrogen, in great part, from the air, as already explained. Old manure is very favorable as a starter, as it contains the minute organisms mentioned in the 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 sometimes 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 themselves, 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 successional 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 catalogues.
Distances.—Poles for beans should be set about 4 feet apart each way; or, in single rows, about 3 feet apart. Not more than three or four plants should be allowed to a hill. Wires stretched between posts, with strings down to the ground, are sometimes used. The bush beans are planted in rows 3 feet apart for horse culture, or half that distance where a hoe or hand cultivator is to be used. The plants in the rows should stand 3 or 4 inches apart for best yield.
