179 



quent occurrence to find a variety whose pods are stringless and 

 yet very fibrous in the walls. The best examples of good quality 

 with regard to beans used for snaps are Yosemite, German Black- 

 Wax, and Wingold. The only outward test of good quality, and the 

 one used by the consumer, is brittleness. While stringlessness and 

 brittleness are usually correlated, many stringy varieties, as Red 

 Valentine, for example, are extremely brittle. For market pur- 

 poses, then, a brittle variety with a moderate string may often be 

 more desirable than one lacking in brittleness, though strictly 

 stringless. There is no appreciable difference in quality in beans 

 used in either the green-shell or the dry-shell state. 



Suture. — The line marking the junction of the two halves of a 

 pod is called the suture. The ventral suture is the one adjacent to 

 the attachment of the seeds, or the one which possesses the stronger 

 " string." The dorsal suture is opposite the ventral suture. 



Margin. — In describing the seed the terms ventral margin and 

 dorsal margin are used. The former refers to the border of the 

 seed on which is located the attachment scar or hilum. The latter 

 refers to the opposite border. 



Eye. — The eye of a seed refers to a colored blotch on the 

 ventral margin, and not to the attachment scar or hilum, as some 

 writers use it. 



Making Comparisons. 



In making comparisons the observer keeps in mind several feat- 

 ures in addition to those mentioned above, such as length of season, 

 adaptation, shipping and keeping qualities, etc. In addition to the 

 utilitarian characters of a variety, he needs to record such botanical 

 peculiarities in color and form of stems, leaves, flowers and seeds, 

 as may distinguish it from other varieties. In order that none of 

 these features may be overlooked, cards with spaces for the various 

 items are sometimes used (Fig. 24). The observer, instead of 

 making complete descriptions of the varieties consecutively takes 

 one character at a time and makes comparisons of all varieties 

 in reference to that particular character. If he is comparing, for 

 example, the shape of the pod, he first selects his standards; that 

 is, he selects a variety with " very flat " pods, another with " flat " 

 pods, another with " oval," another with " round," and so on. On 

 the cards of the varieties which correspond in shape to these 

 various standards he will write the symbols " v f," " f," " o," " r," 

 etc., meaning " very flat," " flat," " oval," " round," etc. The 

 various other characters are treated in the same way. 



