20 AMERICAN VARIETIES OF GARDEN BEANS. 



StraigJitness of snap pods (very straight, straight, moderately 

 straight, moderately curved, much curved). — Some stringy pods, 

 Uke Long Yellow Six Weeks, curve at the middle only; some string- 

 less ones, Hke Round Pod Kidney Wax, are scimiter curved; other 

 stringless pods, Hke Grenell's Stringless Green Pod, curve at their 

 extreme tip end only; some, both of the stringless and stringy types, 

 hke Wardwell's Kidney Wax and Day's Leafless Medium, curve back- 

 ward at the extreme stem end only; and some others, hke Navy Pea, 

 Longfellow, and Improved Goddard, are straight from end to end. 

 In making comparisons of these pecuharities, it should be remem- 

 bered that poorly gro^\Ti pods are generally more curved than well- 

 grown ones. 



Cross sections of snap pods (very flat, flat, oval flat, oval, oval 

 round, round, round broad, very broad, or double barreled). — Varie- 

 ties described as round or fleshy are generally the most tender, wliile 

 those described as flat are usually most full of fiber and even when 

 without string and tough parchment, as in Warren Bush, are at least 

 harder in texture and require longer to cook than those composed 

 more largel}" of soft fleshy pulp. Some sorts, like Snowflake, are flat 

 at the snap stage, but become almost round at the green shell period, 

 wliile others, hke Refugee, change but little. Some varieties, hke 

 Emperor Wilham, are decidedly too flat to be attractive as snaps, 

 wdiile others, like Yosemite, are so broad as to resemble two pods 

 grown together. 



Color of snap pods (very dark green, dark green, medium green, 

 light green, very light green, light yellow, medium yellow, deep yellow, 

 etc.). — Many varieties are brilliantly splashed at the green-shell 

 stage, but nearly all varieties listed by American seedsmen are either 

 solid green or solid yellow at the snap pod stage, the only exceptions 

 being Blue Pod Butter, Black Turtle Soup, and a few, hke Refugee 

 Wax, which are faint red or purplish splashed at the snap pod stage, 

 and some black-seeded varieties wliich are reddish streaked along the 

 sutures and at the stem end. Golden Refugee and Crystal Wax, 

 which are silvery green in color, are classed by some as green-podded 

 and by others as wax-podded. 



Brittleness of snap pods (very brittle, brittle, somewhat brittle, some- 

 what tough, tough, very tough). — Some varieties, like Pencil Pod 

 Black Wax, are so brittle that they break when bent very little, while 

 others, like Davis Wax, must be cut and can not be readily broken 

 unless gathered when very young and undersized. 



Stringiness of snap pods (stringless, inappreciabh' stringy, shghtly 

 stringy, of moderate string, of strong string, or very strong string). — 

 String in bean pods is used to designate the strip of inedible tough 

 fiber at the dorsal and ventral sutures of many pods. Its presence 

 usually indicates toughness and poor quality, but not always, as is 



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