Whether it can be
planted after frost danger is over, as corn is, and make satisfactory
growth and product in the dry heat of the interior summer must also be
determined by experience.
The horse bean is a tall growing, upright plant which is successfully
grown in rows far enough apart for cultivation, say about 2 1/2 feet,
the seed dropped thinly so that the plants will stand from 6 inches to 1
foot apart in the row.
Growing Castor Beans.
Give information on the castor oil bean; the kind of bean best to plant,
when to plant and harvest, the best soil, and where one can market them.
Castor bean growing has been undertaken from time to time since 1860 in
various parts of California. There is no difficulty about getting a
satisfactory growth of the plant in parts of the State where moisture
enough can be depended upon. Although the growing of beans is easy
enough, the harvesting is a difficult proposition, because in California
the clusters ripen from time to time, have to be gathered by hand, to be
put in the sun to dry, and finally threshed when they are popping
properly. The low price, in connection with the amount of hand work
which has to be done upon the crop, has removed all the attractions for
California growers. There is also, some years, an excess of production
in the central West, which causes prices to fall and makes it still more
impracticable to make money from the crop with the ordinary rates of
labor.
Pages:
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152