The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-07-06
Agricultural Department
CONDUCTED BY FULTON g. WHITE.

is far better than a hand drill. In fact few if any, hand seeders can be depended upon for sowing beans or peas. Where a good horse drill Is not at hand I would next prefer to mark or furrow out the rows and drop the seed by hand sowing at this season enough for two stands ana pressing the dirt on them firmly by the use of the feet. Tramp right back in the 1 fresh opened furrow and press the seed firmly in the loose soil, after which pull on little dirt. but do not cover beans too deep, for as they come up double, the leaves having to expand out, can not push l off too much dirt
 Pole beans may be planted the same as the bush sorts, only they will require more room. The rows, not only for beans,
 but for all vegetable crops, should be made as long as the garden or field will l permit, so as to allow all the cultivation l to be done by horse power. Where the l plots are too small for the use of the ] two-horse cnltivators nse the one-horse
 garden cultivator. It will pay to plant in l large plots and use these improved gar
 den cultivators which are now made for
 either one or two horses. But beans must l be cultivated only when the soil is dry | Pole beans, as before stated, may be
 planted up to the middle of July and
 bunch beans may be planted up to and l through the first week in August. In pole
 beans we have a number of good varie- ties, but none better for green snap beans than the Texas Pole. For pole butter beans, the only one that 1t will pay to plant at this season is the old time Caro- | lima butter.
 In bush beans we have a number of good sorts, but for good green podded 1 snaps, the improved round pod Valentine is the best for the fall crop. There are also a number of good yellow podded or wax beans, but Southern growers gen. erally prefer the green podded sorts. For my use l very much prefer the green to
 the wax sorts. Then we also have several
 sorts of the bush butter beans which may be planted also up to August. The
 best for this fall planting is the Hender-
 sons Bush Lima. This bean is a great i and sure cropper and too much cannot be | said in it's favor. It will withstand drouth 1 as well or better than our stock peas, and has never been known to fail making a 1 crop; in fact 1t is one of our greatest drouth resisting plants and should be more extensively cultivated.
 | The bush butter bean is not only fine Tor green shell bean, but is also valu- able to use as a dry bean for winter use
 Every family having a garden should l plant this bean for winter and on every farm 1t will pay to grow at least an acre Tor this purpose, for if one has more than
 they need for home use, they always command high price. Then another great advantage this bean has, 1t is never troubled with the bean bug or weavil. l This bush butter bean may be planted the same as the common bush sorts, in | rows thirty inches wide, and left stand in
 the orliis, or they may be planted in hills two feet apart in the thirty-inch rows. and from two to four plants left in the nills' In growing this bean for dry beans they must be kept picked off as fast as the pods ripen, and really before thev be- come fully dry, for if left on the bushes until the pods are perfectly dry. if a | shower of rain should come followed bv not sunshine the pods will burst omen ana scatter the beans out on the ground
 1T tnls bean is to be planted for crop of ory beans they should be planted at least by the middle of July, but for green
 peans they may be planted up 10 August nave gwen this bean quite notice be- cause l believe 1t fully deserves all tba praise given, and as 1t has proven to he one or the best plants we have found for
 tnls section, and deserves to be more ex- tehsively known and used. Green beans are generally more tender and hetter naVored when grown in the fall than are the early crops. Then, too they always orlng good price at this season of the year So can not too strongly urge tbe planting Of a good supply of beans for fall use. S Aoi Beets may also be grown fin tbs ,., ana young sweet tender beets erou,n Iate In the fall, make a delicious disb beets Will grow large enough for use in rom SIX to ten weeks, and as our fret
 ,snt Irosts will not injure them or stop .len srowtn they may be planted up to august, or perhaps later still. Like tur pro oil hlgnts become longer and cooler. I was accidentally led Into finding out the val ue or a Tall crop of table beets One sea son uurlng my farm operations we had a very severe drouth. We had it dry in March, and 1t remained so up to Aneust Among my early planted crops, I had. as usual, planted a good patch of early bset seed. These were planted in earIv rr,, ana planted in the dust. No rain came ana no peets came up, and as it was so ory there was no use to plant other crops; so the plot was left undjsturhed On the 10th day of August we had n good raln' ana the nrst since the March before
 we nao good showers right along through the remainder of the month
 Being busy with other matters. I did moi notice my beet field for a week ar roora a1ter the showers commenced When T went to blow up the land to SOW turnins imagine my surpries at finding that inc showers had brought the beet seed up ana there was perfect stand. Now this seed had been living in the dry dirt since early April to the middle of August be- lore germnating, so I thought here was a chance for an experiment and instead or blowing up the beets were worked the same as in early spring and the re- suit was that had one of the best crops or beets that l had ever grown So in answer to the oft repeated question
 now late can beet seed be planted?" I would answer: Plant up to August
 The latest difficulty in planting lata is In getting the seed to germinate. Many complain about late plantings of beet seed not coming up. I have found trou- ble, too, in this. The seed should he planted in freshly prepared land. covered deep and the soil pressed firmly down on the seed. Where only a few short rows are planted, it would be we'll to law a board over the rows for several days until the seed are well started. If the soil could be shaded this way or by the use of straw or old sacks for few days. the seed would be far more apt to come up. But good seed only should be used. and 1t will be well to test the seed be- fore planting Fill any old pan with damp sand. lay cloth over the top of the sand, place the seed on this cloth, then cover with another cloth; keep all damp for few days, when the seed, if good, will show. If treated this way they will soon sprout. generally re- quires from a week to ten days for the seed to come up when planted in open ground. Where beets are planted in any quantity, they should be planted in rows thirty inches wide and left almost touch- ing in the drills. The rows should be as lonp he Y,1ot xui1I aI1ow sa ad