The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-12-27
Some Points About
The Cultivation Ct
The Castor Bean

There has been considerable pub
lished about the cultivation of the |
Castor bean and it's possibilities as a
pofitable crop, and in this connection
the following letter to Mr.. w. F.
Blesch, of this city from an authority
on the matter will be of interest:
Sept 18th, 1917.
Mr.. w. F. Blesch,
Lakeland, Fla, .
Dear Sir:-Your favor OF the 9th
inst, regarding the growing of Cas-
tor Beans is at hand. In reply will
say that the growing of Castor Beans
in Florida apparently is easy. The
native bean grows everywhere and
yields a fair crop. l have expert
mented three seasons with three va
rieties of beans. First, the native
stock. Next the Madagascar Bean
and what l call the Oklahoma Bean
because the seed were purchased in
that country. The native bean is of
a mammouth variety. The Madagas-
car grown still larger but the Okla
seed very early and bears all the
summer till frost. This Bean is very
rich in oil. The seeds are small with
very thin hull while the spikes are
not as large as the mammoth bean,
yet it makes up in numbers.
The Madagascar and Florida Bean
are the larger size. Not so rich in
oil. Bear not so many spikes but are
very large. This Bean does not pop
out as readily as the Oklahoma and
tie 'CrG = --crr c--"o" 80 Ctl"-
| homa Bean must be watched very
closely and the spikes should be cut
once a week. The gathering of the
spikes at the right time is very i'm
portant The Florida and Madagas-
car Beans should be planted about
| four or five feet apart in the drill
and the rows about seven or eight
! feet apart. The Oklahoma Bean
about three or four feet in the drill
and the rows five or six feet apart
OF course this depends entirely on
the soil and fertilization. Where the
soil is rich and fertilizers is used, all
beans should be planted at great
! tot 1,
is plenty. After they are about a
foot or so high. they should be
thinned out to one stalk to the hill
Cultivation the same as corn till
the beans get large enough to shade
the ground. Then no further culti-
walton is necessary. About every
eighth row should be left and not
planted for driveway through the
field in order to gather the beans
when matured.
There is an unlimited demand for
Castor Beans and at the present high
prices of oil the business should be a
profitable one. My experience so
far has not proven satisfactory The
first year | planted the beans in a
field, about ten acres. Having plant.
ed large crop of corn and vegeta-
bles, the beans were neglected. in
fact | thought it was not necessary
to cultivate them at all but | soon
found that the grass and weeds were
injuring the growth. The rainy sea-
son setting in | was never able to
control the grass and weeds. hence
the crop was practically abandoned
and not taken care Of Only a few
beans were gathered.
The next year I only planted a
small crop. Gave them proper cult
walton and they fruited heavily but
again | neglected the gathering in
time and lost very heavily of the
beans by popping out of the hull in
the field. Owing to the scarcity OF
labor | did not plant but few this
year but again they did not receive
the proper attention and work, yet
they are doing splendidly
have about eight or ten bushels
of seed left of the Oklahoma varie
ty that we will sell at $500 pei
: bushel for seed. One bushel will
plant twelve to fifteen acres OIL
, more, so in case you need some seed
: will be glad to supply you.
l have a great deal of correspon