Evening star., 1915-04-11
SOME STAPLE CROPS
FOR THE HOME GARDEN
Asparagus Bed Should Be Planned
For-Lima and Other Beans Al
ways Favorites.

Asparagus should be grown in every
home garden where it will thrive. be-
cause 1t is one of tho earliest vege-
tables and is valuable addition to
the spring diet. The soil for aspara-
gus should be made quite rich by the
application Of partly rotted manure
before the plants are set. AS soon as
danger from hard frosts is over the
seeds Of asparagus may be sown in the
rows where the plants are to remain.
Soaking the seed in hot water for an
hour or two before planting will hasten
termination.
The seedlings should be thinned to
stand fifteen inches apart in the row.
Quicker results can be secured. how
man or dealer. The roots may be
planted in the autumn or early spring,
Before setting the plants the soil
should be loosened deeply by spading
or by the use Of a subsoil plow. When
horse cultivation Is to be used set the
plants fifteen inches apart In rows
three and one-half to four feet apart.
When hand cultivation Is to be used
the roots may be set in solid bed one
foot apart each way. Cover the roots
bed should receive a dressing Of ma
nure or fertilizer each year, preferably
in the autumn
No shoots should be removed the first
year the plants are set in the perma-
nent bed. and the cutting season should
be short the second year. After the
bed is well established, with proper
care and fertilizing it should last in
definitely. During the cutting season
al the shoots, even those too small for
tops should be allowed to grow until
late in the season. when they should
be removed and burned and the soil be-
tween the rows cultivated. Apply a
dressing Of manure after cultivation
and allow the manure to remain ON the
bed.
varieties recommended by the De-
partment of Agriculture are palmetto
Conover's colossal and giant argen-
teuil
Beans for the Family.
Beans will not Withstand much cold.
SO they should not be planted until
danger Of frost is past and the ground
begins to warm up. The first planting
should be made as soon as the ground
is reasonably warm, and other plant
ings may be made at intervals of ten
days or two weeks until hot weather
sets in. Beans for the fall garden
should be planted in late summer, and
successive paintings may be made at
the intervals suggested until about
eight weeks before time for the first
frost in the autumn.
Bush beans should be planted to
stand three or four inches apart, in
rows thirty inches apart where horse
cultivation is to be used. For hand
cultivation twenty to twenty-four
inches between the rows will be satis-
factory. Among the best varieties of
bush beans are the stringless green
pod, refugee, Hodson's kidney wax,
Currie's rustproof wax and Wardwelrs
kidney wax.
Lima beans. both pole and bush.
should be grown in the garden. These
should be planted after all danger Of
frost is over and the soil is warm.
Plant the pole beans eight to ten seeds
in hill and thin to three or four after
the plants become established. The
hills should be four or five feet apart.
For bush lima beans plant five or six
inches apart in rows of thirty to thir-
ty-six inches apart.
When planting beans of any kind the
seed should not be covered over two
inches, and on heavy soils they should
not be covered more than one and a
quarter to one and half inches.
Varieties recommended are: Sci
bert's pole lima. carpinteria lima and
king of the limas for pole lima beans,
and Landreth's bush lima. Dreer's bush
lima and Henderson's bush lima for the
bush type,