GARDEN BEANS CULTIVATED AS ESCULENTS. 83 
habit or perhaps more so. Seedsmen and gardeners almost 
invariably separate them into dwarf and climbing, which is 
certainly the most convenient for their purposes. It ap- 
pears quite evident, however, that varieties most closely 
related are the ones most nearly alike in form of seed. 
Poorly defined and variable forms are not always easily 
determined by a key. For example, it is necessary to give 
absolute and proportional dimensions of the seed or pods 
which are intended for average specimens, but it should be 
understood that varying individuals commonly occur which 
go beyond the defined limits. 
In selecting names for the garden varieties, the principles 
for the nomenclature of cultivated plants adopted by the 
Vegetable Committee of Experiment Station Horticultur- 
ists* and the Madison Botanical Congresst have in the 
main been followed. 
Beans are often classed according to their uses, namely, 
string or snap in reference to the young or green pods; 
shell beans, when the seed is used in the green state but 
large enough to shell; and the ripe seed. Again there are 
the green podded and the wax or yellow podded sorts. 
_ All pods are more or less green at first but those known as 
wax podded sorts change to a yellowish color when of 
edible size, and in the descriptions of varieties where refer- 
ence is made to the color of pods it is understood to mean 
those of edible size. The wax pods are, as a rule, less 
stringy than the green pods but are also less hardy and 
somewhat more subject to disease, and in the selection of 
varieties therefore both should be chosen. Among the 
best green podded sorts for snaps may be mentioned Val- 
entine, Refugee, Sion House, White Flageolet, Cream, 
Stringless, Canadian Wonder and Mohawk, and of the wax 
sorts, Black Wax, Golden Wax, Davis, Currie, Yosemite, 
Wardwell and Detroit. These are also good as shell beans, 
* Bailey, Annals of Horticulture 106-107. (1893). 
+ Proceedings of the Madison Botanical Congress 41. (1893). 
