EXPERIMENT STATEOX HKI'olJT. 489 



The limas were not seriously harmed by disease in 1003. The pods 

 were lightly infested by the pod blight, and mildew became quite con- 

 spicuous, but not until late in October. Xo fungicides were applied. 



Varietal Study of Lima Beans. 



In connection with the work in crossing and breeding lima beans 

 a small space — a row thirty feet long — was given to a test of each 

 of the foUowino- varieties, with the results as shown in the table below: 



Kind. 

 "Henderson " ... 



"Burpee" 



"Thorburn" 



"Dreer" 



"Willow-leaf".. 



In this set there are two groups of dwarf limas represented, the 

 first and last named being of small stature, dark-green foliage and 

 with the pods and seeds comparatively small. The other three varie- 

 ties are closely related, with large plants and pods and seeds. Plate 

 I. of the report for 1901 shows the seeds of "Henderson" at 1 and 4, 

 and of the "Burpee" at 3 and 6, both in the green and ripe condition. 



It is seen that the "Henderson" and "Willow-leaf" were far su- 

 perior in productiveness to the other three sorts. This may in part 

 be due to the season, which was very dry in May, so that the plants 

 had a late start. This was followed by an unusually wet June and 

 August. A more even rainfall throughout the growing season might 

 have given quite different results. 



The only disease that seemed to make any headway among these 

 trial beans was the mildew, and for its development the wet August 

 seemed particularly favorable. It was noticed from time to time upon 

 the three larger sorts, and doubtless had somewhat to do with their 

 low yield, but upon the smaller podded sorts it was not in evidence. 



All of the five varieties were remarkably uniform, with the excep- 

 tion of the "Willow-leaf," among which were fourteen plants that were 

 somewhat larger than the others, and with the leaves broader than 

 the type. The pods of the.se plants were somewhat above the average 

 in size and in number to each plant. The seeds of these have been 

 saved for further testing as to fixedness of character, productiveness 

 and market value. 



