372 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



"Nineteen years ago an eastern seed firm having learned of the 

 successful culture of the Lima bean in this section, made arrange- 

 ments to have a small lot grown, to be used in his business. The 

 j^roject proved to be a feasible one. Other wholesale seedsmen 

 gradually came into this field and made contracts for seed. 

 Some of tliem were at first unfortunate in dealing with careless 

 farmers, the business proving unsatisfactor3\ The demand upon 

 careful seed growers, however, increased until they virtually held a 

 monopoly of that branch of the seed business in the United States, 

 the' writer having had contracts with eastern seed houses amounting 

 to nearly one hundred and fifty tons in a single year. Within the 

 past two or three years the extensive wholesale dealers in beans for 

 all purposes have been securing the contracts of seed houses and 

 farming them out to whoever would grow them for the lowest price, 

 with the result that an inferior grade for less money is now being 

 supplied, while the careful and successful seed growers have mostly 

 gone out of the business into other horticultural pursuits which 

 promise better returns for their skill. 



" For the benefit of some readers it might be well to state even 

 at this late date in the history of agriculture in California that these 

 crops are grown without irrigation and without any rain from 

 the time the seed is planted till the beans are harvested, unless it be 

 that an unwelcome shower is liable to come in the harvesting season 

 in the month of October." 



III. Index. 



For the choice of varieties in our last years test, see page 868. 

 The Sievas are described on pages 350 to 353 ; the large flat Limas 

 on pages 353 to 357 ; the potato Limas on pages 357 to 359 ; the 

 horticultural Lima on page 361 ; the Chickasaw Lima or Jack bean 

 {Ganavalia ensiformis) on pages 362 to 364. The methods of 

 culture recommended for New York are detailed on pages 365 

 (uses), 365 (soils and fertilizers), 366, 367 (planting and training), 

 368 (choice of varieties). The California operations are expounded 

 on pages 368 to 372. 



L. II. BAILEY. 



