240 



native of South-West Asia or North Africa. It is one of the 

 oldest of cultivated plants. According to the Old Testament the 

 Hebrews were acquainted with it one thousand years before Christ. 

 It is extensively grown in England, but owing to the hot dry sum- 

 mers it does not succeed well in this country. It is successfully 

 grown in the Eastern provinces of Canada. Used chiefly for dry- 

 shell beans, but some varieties are grown for forage and green- 

 manuring. The green-shell and dry-shell beans are inferior in 

 quality to the Limas. It is more hardy than other beans and will 

 withstand several degrees of frost. It prefers a rich, moderately 

 heavy soil and a cool exposure. The seed is planted in much the 

 same way as common dwarf beans and as early as the ground will 

 permit. 



The following description is after Irish (1. c.) : " Plant an an- 

 nual; stem quadrangular, striate, 1-5 ft. high, few branched, often 

 blotched with dark purple. Leaves rather crowded along the stem 

 and branches ; leaflets 3-6, ovate, oblong or elliptical, mucronate, 

 2-T^ in. long, i-i^ in. broad, smooth, glabrous or slightly tomen- 

 tose, nearly sessile. Flowers axillary, clustered, white, blotched 

 with dark purple and red, in one variety white. Pods nearly 

 erect or often curved or bent by their own weight, 3-7 in. long, 

 y%~-y2 in. thick, woolly within. Seed variable, flattened to oblong." 



Bacon 



Synonym. — Wood's Bacon. 



Comparison. — This varietj' difYers from Broad Windsor only in being 

 more dwarf in habit, more productive and in having longer, slightly nar- 

 rower, lighter colored pods. The beans, of which there is an average of 

 four to the pod, are slightly elongated and longer than Broad Windsor. 

 This is probably the best variety of the English Broad type. On rich soil, 

 however, it has a tendency to sprawl over the ground. 



Broad Windsor 



Synonyms. — Windsor, Red Windsor, Green Windsor, English, English 

 Broad. 



History. — This variety has been grown in England for centuries and has 

 been listed by American seedsmen for at least fifty years. 



Description. — Plant very erect, 2 to 3 feet high, with no running tendency, 

 compact, very stocky, very vigorous, very hardj^ susceptible to disease, very 

 productive. Pods large, 5 to 5^ inches long, 1% inches broad, very stout, 

 flat, very straight, slightly depressed between beans, three-seeded, short thick 

 point, smooth surface, glossy green. Green-shell beans very large, very 

 broad, flat, light green. Dry seeds (2.3 x 2.2 x i cm.) circular in outline, 

 decidedly flat, reddish brown, hilum black. 



Comparison. — The best known variety of this species. More like Prolific 

 Broad than any other, differing as described under that head. Plate III, 

 fig. g2; Frontispiece. 



