for cooking, they are soaked a while to remove the excess of salt, and then boiled in the ordinary manner. With proper care they will keep good until spring.

In raising beans in large quantities the land should be furrowed with a horse-marker or light plow, about two feet apart, and the beans sown by hand, and covered with the potatohook; or any good corn-planter may be used, which will complete the operation at once.

The after-culture should be performed with the skeleton plow and light harrow, or the cultivator, to keep them clean, and either a single or a double mould-plow to slightly earth them up, after which but little finishing off by the hand-hoe will be required.

For analysis of bush beans and their value, see page 500.

POLE BEANS.

French, Haricots à rames.—German, Stangbohnen.—Spanish, Judias. LARGE LIMA. SMALL LIMA OR CAROLINA.

HORTICULTURAL.

DUTCH CASE KNIFE. ASPARAGUS. SCARLET RUNNERS, &c., &c.

Time: throughout corn-planting time both North and South. At New York in all May.

Pole beans require to be planted in hills from two to four feet apart, in which poles should be first set securely by the aid of a crow-bar.

Plant four or five beans an inch and a half deep around each pole, and from four to six inches from it. When well up, hoe and thin them, leaving three or four of the strongest and most healthful plants; keep the earth well hoed and loosened about them; and when they begin to run, guide them to the pole if they do not find it readily, being careful to wind them in the natural direction.* Continue to keep the earth loose and clean

Vegetables and woody plants that wind in their growth do not all wind in one direction, but each kind winds uniformly in its natural course, and no other. The honeysuckle and the hop wind "with the sun"that is, the point of the vine in its progress passes from the south by the west, and north and east to the south again; but the bitter sweet, the wistaria, the morning-glory, the cypress vine, and the bean, wind against the sun--that is, the point grows from the south to the east, and by the north and west again to the south.

about them, hilling them up a little from time to time, and sowing plaster lightly upon them until the blossoming. You may then wait confidently for your crop. Those which are unripe at the approach of severe frost should be shelled and dried in the sun or oven for after use, and light-colored ones are to be preferred for the reasons given in the former article in reference to bush beans.

The Dutch case-knife, the cranberry, the asparagus, and some others, may be used as snaps while very young; the Carolina, the white Dutch runner, the horticultural, and, above all, the large Lima for shelling. The scarlet runners are pretty flowering beans, but are not worth raising for the table.

The large Lima and the Carolina, unless in very warm soil, should not be planted earlier than between the first and second corn-hoeing, and in the richest and warmest spot; but the other kinds may be planted as early as it is safe to plant corn, which of course will vary with latitude, soil, and elevation.

BEET.

French, Betterave.-German, Rothe Rübe.-Spanish, Remolacha. EARLY BLOOD TURNIP. LONG BLOOD. WHITE SUGAR OR EARLY WHITE SCARCITY. MANGEL WURTZEL OR EARLY RED SCARCITY.

YELLOW SUGAR, &c., &c.

BRIEF DIRECTIONS.

Sow in deep rich soil, in drills twelve or fifteen inches apart, and about an inch deep. Thin the plants to from eight to twelve inches apart, and hoe often till the tops cover the ground.

Time for spring or summer use: at the South, through the winter months or at the earliest moment of spring; at the North, either in very late fall or very early spring.

For winter use, from the middle of June to the middle of July at the North, and at the South from the last of July to the middle or last of August.

Beets, in general, prefer a light, rich, and deep soil, although the turnip, sugar, and mangel wurtzel beets, growing mostly above ground, may be well raised upon any soil that is rich.

For early use, the seed of blood turnip beet may be sown in fall or winter, or at the very first opening of spring, on extra rich ground, in rows twelve inches apart, between which early salad or radishes may be sown if saving of space be an object, these coming off before the beets require the whole ground, and the beets can be thinned by pulling the young plants for greens. For winter, both the blood turnip and the long blood are now extensively used, the former being valued not only for its intrinsic excellence when raised properly, but also for its keeping qualities. It may be preserved in good order until June.

Long blood beets for winter use should not be sown at the North until from the middle to the end of June, and blood turnip from the first to the middle of July, and still later to the South, so timing them as to allow between three and four months for them to attain their full size. As soon as they are well up they should be thinned, the former to a foot apart each way, or fifteen inches by nine, and the latter to one foot by six inches. Keep them well hoed and the earth loose until they cover the ground with their leaves; sow a little ash compost over them once or twice during their growth, if possible just before rain; and whenever the frost even but lightly touches the tops, gather your crop immediately, or you will lose a considerable portion of its sweetness. The tops having been carefully and closely trimmed off, the roots, slightly dried, may be kept through the winter by being buried or holed, as hereafter directed; or in an ordinary cellar, if laid up dry, not wilted, and covered with sand or earth.

To this article a few general remarks may perhaps be profitably added.

1st. If long beets are raised for a series of years in ground. that is not deeply plowed and well pulverized, and the seed saved from them is annually resown, they will become shortened in growth, or form a habit of growing much above ground, and, in consequence of the latter peculiarity, deteriorate in quality for the table.

2d. The kinds named above are the only kinds really worth raising, and, if good stock is obtained, supply all that can be desired. The color of the first two should be dark blood, but

not black, for extremely dark beets will rarely grow freely enough to possess the sweetness desirable. A dark-rooted beet with a rather light top is generally the best; when cooked, it will be of a bright blood-color.

The mangel wurtzel, or red scarcity, is a red-skinned beet, but white inside, growing much out of the ground, and, although chiefly used for feeding cattle, makes a tolerable early beet. The white sugar, or scarcity, rather shorter, but of somewhat similar habit, having sometimes a very slight tinge of pink upon the skin, also makes a good early beet. These varieties. are unfit for winter use. Of the two, the white sugar is the more desirable, being of rather better quality, and having a fine appearance when served up mixed with the blood-colored varieties.

As to yellow beets and the thousand mingled varieties that may be met with, their dull, dirty appearance when cooked is a sufficient objection to them, not one of them possessing any peculiar excellence to counterbalance this defect. No sweeter or more tender beets can be raised than of the kinds above mentioned, but no beet can be raised of fine quality unless rapidly grown. For this end, rich soil, sufficient room, and frequent hoeing are indispensable. If from any cause it grow slowly, or receive a check, as not unfrequently happens in drought and from early frosts, the taste of potash, and not sugar, will be found when it is eaten.

I have not named those beets which are raised expressly for the tops, because it appears absurd to cultivate them. One beet-top is almost as good as another, when grown luxuriantly, and if tops are wanted, they can be plucked from the rooted varieties. As a farm crop, or on a large scale for marketing, beets should be sown in rows at least two feet apart, and thinned to from six to fifteen inches in the rows, according to the kinds and the object proposed in raising them. If raised for feed, being planted early and kept well plowed and harrowed, two feet by fifteen inches will probably yield as much per acre as if left closer, and it is manifest that, other things being equal, the fewer in number the roots may be the less will be the labor of gathering them. For analysis of beets, and their value as a crop for feed, see p. 500.