We generally have sweet corn to sell every day from about the middle of July until the first frost.  To do this we plant every ten days from about the 20th of April to the 20th of June.  Our early variety is the Peep-O’Day, which is planted about the same time as the early beans.  We also plant the Golden Bantam at this time.  This is followed by Red Cob Cory, Pocahontas and some more Bantam.  Then about May 15th to 20th we plant early and late Evergreen, Bantam and Country Gentleman.

[Illustration:  A load of vegetables at Marien’s ready for market.]

Soil well adapted to common field corn will produce good sweet corn, thriving best on well fertilized land.  Sandy soil is best for the early varieties.

Sweet corn is often grown in drills, but we prefer the hills three feet apart, as it is easier to get an even stand, and cultivating both ways will push the crop.  It should be cultivated shallow and never deep enough to hurt the roots.  It is well to hoe it once.

Sweet corn is one of the few vegetables which is quite free from serious injury from either insects or diseases.

Sweet corn may be divided into three classes:  early, medium and late.  It is very important that the various kinds come in as early as possible, as a few days make a lot of difference in price.

So you see that to make a profit on beans and sweet corn, four things are needed:  good seed, planting at the right time, in the right kind of soil, and plenty of elbow grease—­or hard work.

A member:  How far apart do you plant your beans in the row?

Mr. Marien:  The rows three feet apart and the hills six inches, putting three or four seeds in a hill.

A Member:  Don’t you recommend testing your seeds before you plant them?

Mr. Marien:  Hardly the bean seeds.  I don’t remember of ever having found any poor bean seeds.

A Member:  I mean seeds generally, corn, etc.?

Mr. Marien:  Yes, sir, we do; we always test our seed.

Mr. Goudy:  What is your method of harvesting your beans?

Mr. Marien:  Well, we generally employ pickers, boys and girls, and we pay them about twenty-five cents a bushel when they are above a dollar and a quarter, and then we keep going down; as the price goes down we go down too; but we have paid as much as thirty cents when the price of beans was high and it is important to get many on the market the next day.

[Illustration:  Harvesting the hay crop at Marien’s.]

Mr. Anderson:  What are your gross receipts per acre for beans?

Mr. Marien:  That is a hard question to answer, as sometimes it is very poor for the medium and late beans, and sometimes there aren’t any receipts at all. (Laughter.) But the early beans sometimes go as high as $250.00 an acre.

Mr. Anderson:  How late can you plant them and be sure of a crop?

Mr. Marien:  We have planted them as late as the 15th of June.