I then allow the sun to warm and dry the hill a few
days, and if the weather is fine and warm, I plant the seed about
the fifteenth, merely pressing the eye of the bean downward one
inch. If planted lower than this depth, they usually decay. If it
is warm and early, the seed may be planted by the fifth of May.
After planting, examine the seed often. If the beans are decaying
instead of coming up, plant over again, and repeat this process
until there are three or four strong plants within three or four
inches of each pole. Let the hills be five feet apart each way,
hoe often, and do not tolerate a weed. The Long White Lima and
Dreer's Improved Lima are the only sorts needed.
The Indians in their succotash taught us long ago to associate
corn with beans, and they hit upon a dish not surpassed by modern
invention. This delicious vegetable is as easily raised as its
"hail-fellow well met," the bean. We have only to plant it at the
same time in hills from three to four feet apart, and cover the
seed two inches deep. I have used the powdery fertilizers and
wood-ashes in the hill to great advantage, first mingling these
ingredients well with the soil. We make it a point to have sweet-
corn for the table from July 1 until the stalks are killed by
frost in October. This is easily managed by planting different
varieties, and continuing to plant till well into June.
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