446 NEW JERSEY AGEICULTUEAL COLLEGE 



EXPERIMENTS 'WITH LIMA BEANS. 



The "Station" and '^Kelsey" bush lima beans were gTO\\Ti upon 

 a small area of the Gardens, namely, four plot rows (a total of 128 

 feet) were planted with the latter, and of the fonner, selected 

 "flat" seeds were planted in four rows and "plump" seeds in an 

 equal area. Thus there were twelve rows of the "Burp-hends" 

 gro\ni in three blocks of four rows each, side by side. 



The "Kolsey" was noticeable for the uniformity of the plants. 

 In tlie "Station" there was some tendency to twine, especially in 

 the four rows planted with the "plump" seeds. During the wet 

 weather of August the flower-stalks and young pods mildewed 

 somewhat, and were freely sprayed with Bordeaux. Later on the 

 mildew disappeared and the crop was harA^ested with results given 

 later. 



The "Kelsey" is an earlier A-ariety than the "Station," with the 

 j)lants smaller and approaching the "Henderson" parent — the 

 Sieva type. Its foliage is darker than that of the "Station" and 

 less susceptible to the mildew. When it was harvested upon Sep- 

 tember 6th the "Station" was still in bloom. There were 118 

 j)lants, of which 13 were discarded as being later and less prolific 

 than the others, and 49 of the remaining 105 were selected as 

 superior — from, which the crop for next year is to be grown — and 

 56 as seconds. 



Eleven days later, there having been no frosts, the "Station" 

 blocks were harvested, with the following results : Of the 101 

 plants from the "flat" seeds, 31 were rejected and the remaining 

 80 Avere graded as follows: Extras, 10; fine, 12, and seconds, 48. 

 The "plump" lot had 114 plants, of which 64 were rejected, leav- 

 ing extras, 10 ; fine, 6, and seconds, 34. 



The weights of ripe seeds for each of the three blocks are as fol- 

 lows: "Kelsey," 71/2 pounds; "Station" (plump), 51/4; "Sta- 

 tion" (flat), 7I/4. It is seen that the "Station," with plump seeds 

 and from plants that inclined to be "viney," gave a much smaller 

 yield than the "flat" strain, which in turn was exceeded, although 

 but little, by the "Kelsey." 



The upper half of Plate XII. shows samples of the two strains 

 of the "Station" beans. The watch glass upon the left contains 

 the "plump" seeds, and the same kind is shown, placed edgewise, 



