868 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



time, if the beans are partially i^rowii, can be picked, tlie beans 

 shelled out and dried, and these can be used in the winter time to 

 as good advantage as if thej were thoroughly ripe. If these dried 

 beans are soaked in water some time before thej are cooked, thej 

 are scarcely inferior to green beans directly from the vine. 



It is generally considered that the richest of all the Lima beans 

 are those of the Potato Lima type, like Dreer's Improved and 

 Challenge. This type of beans makes a smaller and less showy pod 

 than many of the large white Lima type, but the pods are usually 

 closer packed with turgid seeds. To the person who buys Lima 

 beans in the pod, these are much the more economical, whilst the 

 one who sells beans in the pod would secure a larger bulk by grow- 

 ing some of the very large-podded flat Lima type, like Kaighn, 

 Jersey, May Champion and the like. For ripe beans, the large 

 white flatLimas usually sell the best, but there are many persons 

 who prefer a green Lima. A number of the varieties are greenish 

 even when they are fully ripe, and therefore have the appearance of 

 being more fresh and tender. The red and speckled Limas are in 

 every way as good in quality, as the white or green ones, but most 

 .persons do not like this dark color. In our own test of last year, 

 we thought that the best six beans, considering earliness, productive- 

 ness and quality, were the Jersey, Extra Early or Bliss, Kaighn, 

 May Champion, Dreer Improved and the speckled Lima. 



It is difficult to state what the yield of Lima beans may be. As 

 a rule they are not grown much for market in the dry state in the 

 east, for the California product can be grown with more certainty 

 and more cheaply and is shipped east in very large quantities. Mr. 

 C. J. Pennock, of Kennett Square, Pa,, one of our former students, 

 •writes that upon a half acre he gets a yield of about 120 |-bu. bas- 

 kets of pods, and the price runs about fifty cents per basket. He 

 uses poles seven feet long, stuck three and one-half by four and 

 one-half feet apart, and he cultivates twice before setting the poles, 

 hoes the beans about once, and trains the vines to the poles by hand. 



2. The California Practice. 



In the East, the Lima bean is much grown in New Jersey, but 

 southern California is undoubtedly the largest producer of Lima 

 beans in the world. The following estimates show the enormous 

 output of Lima beans from this region : 



